We're ready for our grand entrance!

Alright folks! It's here! Our very own grand entrance...well, it's grand to me!

I gave the idea to Joe. We went to the wood store and bought our materials. We hunted for the perfect hardware and paint colors...

Ladies and gentlemen, I present the new Casa de O'Brien Grand Entrance!
I've also included the slide show below so you can see some of the steps we took! You all must come by and see it in person some time!

A bit of inspiration...

So, all it took for my to find my inner seamstress (yeah right) was the announcement that my buddies Lydia and Jon were going to have a baby Caleb! That started me on a roll to create a few little baby gifts and other crafts.

Here are a few that made a recent appearance at Lydia's shower:

A few little balls for a precious little boy. Soft and squishy to mouth on and and get his pitching arm into shape!

A swaddle blanket for the little man, complete with zoo animals.

A contoured burp cloth.

A lovey blankie complete with little tabs, perfect for a curious Caleb.

A few other burp cloths that just had to be made...All Boy!

Lydia's favorite print of the season.

Circles and dots...just too darn fun!

Evacuees, Roadtrips and Woodworking

It's been an interesting past few weeks at the O'Brien house.

We had our first ever hurricane evacuees come and stay with us at our new house, and no it wasn't my parents! It was my good friend Dina and her troop of dogs...CieCie, Jango and Frenchie. We looked like a traveling circus when we took these kids out for a walk - a little rat terrier (all of 5 lbs.), a huge great Dane (all of 150 lbs), a lovely black lab AND a Ryker dog! We at the Casa de O'Brien do not descriminate on against race, size, age or gender! No sir-ree-bob!But, we had a great week besides the ever-lurking feeling of impending doom you have when your best friend's house may be destroyed and her husband is out driving around in it because he's a sherrif! But, God took care of our nerves and our families keeping mine safe in Kingwood and Dina's relatives safe in South East Texas.

Her parents really got into the spirit of evacuation and took their little selves to Hawaii. They claim it was for their 30th anniversary, but we'll just wait and see what Mr. Jack turns in to the IRS when it comes time for deductions! =)

We enjoyed catching up, crafting, shopping, FISHING and cooking. Dina, though the circumstances were a bit stressful, I'd love to do it again! Even with all the dogs!

In the midst of that, Dina and I took a rockin' roadtrip to the hoppin' town of Buffalo! Buffalo you may ask? Yes, I like to dub it our "Ugandan Missian Adventure." But actually, it wasn't. We had a rendesvue with my parents to deliver to them one mighty large generator, 3 5-gallon gas tanks, 2 power cords and a partridge in a pear tree. You see, my poor parents had been sitting in the dark since the night of Hurricane Ike, and my mom decided she wanted to see where she was going. It was an interesting journey as we got to see tons of cars also hauling generators and gas cans south, convoys of linemen and their work trucks and tons of cop!

Our initial meet-up was supposed to be in Centerville, home of the famous Woody's Truckstop, but my dad called and they were JAMMED full...cars lining ever side of the road east and west of the highway, so that's when we decided to stop and wait in Buffalo. We waited in a 4-car-deep line to fill up our car and our three gas cans, met some other very nice evacuees and waited for my parents. All in all, a successful trip and it was fun to hang out with the parents and hear their survival story over lunch!

That about concluded our excitment. Since then, we've been filling our time with things around the house. I finished up my many sewing projects for Baby Caleb to bring to his momma's shower on Saturday and Joe and I have been working hard on our entry table. It alreay looks awesome! I can't wait for the final product!!

Our next adventures?? Dog training and marriage building classes! I'll let you know which one I use the leash in most! ;)

And we're back...

We had a great Labor Day get-away with the O'Brien family to Oklahoma last week. I think we're setting up for a tradition here, as last year we took a trek down to Florida too. I think I can handle that...a fun vacation each year...I'll try to survive.

We started with a slight detour to Arkansas...we hit three states in one day coming from Texas...that's saying something.
We had a nice cabin (aka - large home) in the woods.
We went on hikes (errr...death marches) up winding roads with speeding duely trucks passing us by.
We attempted to go canoeing, but were denied because it was...ahem...raining. Nice.
We went to Wal-Mart - as any good trek to podunkville should offer. Joe purchased a John Deere tractor poster that we all worked on and may soon be showcased in our very own garage!
We went fishing in the rain a lot. We did not catch anything.
We finally succeeded in renting a boat, and had quite a good time. We even caught fish this time! Most of the guys got a nibble, Jim finally brought one out, AND....I CAUGHT ONE TOO!!! My very own bass!

We made it back and relaxed...a bit...before Joe finished up the last little bits of a comic book table he'd been working on for a friend. This has been our big baby in the garage for quite some time. Joe had to come up with the design, we went to the hardwood store to get the goods (awesome by the way), started the cutting, the re-cutting, the gluing, the biscutting, the staining, the other million pieces of hardware and glass to buy and we finished it up on Sunday.
I had just put the final swipes of furniture polish on when our 'client' came to check it out. He liked it! Success! Just so you feel included, here's the finished product!Next up in the O'Brien workshop is an entryway table just for our little house! It will looks something like this Pottery Barn one, and I'm even going to try my hand at distress painting it. It involves a blowtorch! Anyone want to play with me??I think that's about it...finishing up some baby crafts for Mr. Caleb and his momma, starting back to subbing and doing whatever else! Most importantly, waiting in excited anticipation for Fall and my favorite Country Living issue, October!!!