Doin' It and Doin' It and Doin' It...Yourself

Hi friends!!

I hope that you all had a lovely week thus far and that your Friday is going great!

Despite what today's post title might suggest, we are not going to talk about sex today ever. I know, I know...disappointing.

I actually wanted to share a recent DIY project with you guys. Now, before I get into the project details, I just want to say that this project was time consuming, but SUPER easy. I generally shy away from DIY projects because I have no patience...and I love to shop. So, when there's an affordable and high-quality option out in the stores, there's no way you're going to see me trying to make one from scratch. Well, in this case, after searching for weeks for a nicely framed dry-erase board, I finally gave up and gave in to the idea of making one from scratch.

Dr. Love and I have finally started on decorating our home office. Can you believe it? The room has pretty much been empty, except for some books and office supplies, for the past year and 3 months. I know, how embarrassing. In our defense, it was kind of nice to have the room empty, because we could use it as a second guest bedroom. Anyway, times have changed...my law practice is picking up, and Mint + Chase has generated quite a bit of paperwork that needs to be filed away.  So, I started phase one of decorating the office, which included, among other things, coming up with the general feel that we wanted for the space and drawing out our furniture placement. Once I got started with that, I got into super time-to-be-organized mode and decided that we desperately needed a home office dry-erase board. I emphasize "home office" because that was specifically why I had such a difficult time finding an already made one. Most of the ones I found were either super "I'm in high school and need to keep track of all of my extra-curricular activities" or "welcome to the meeting, please take your seat-ish." I couldn't find any affordable, but stylish options.

So, like any respectable modern-day woman, I turned to Pinterest and the blogsphere, where I found great DIY ideas. After weeks, I finally went out today and bought all of the necessary materials: frame, uncut matte board, Sharpie marker, dry-erase markers, a ruler (yeah, I had to go buy one...no clue where our ruler was), and some gorgeous stationary. I bought my frame from my absolute favorite frame store, Aaron Brothers, and the stationary from Paper Source.

Below are the results of my DIY:

Yes, this picture was taken in the bathroom...I thought the lighting would be better in there...wrong.

All I did was measure out my lines and then I drew them on the matte board using the Sharpie. The only other items I wrote directly on the matte board with the Sharpie were the days and "Notes."  I later wrote month/year and numbers on the glass with a dry-erase marker. The project was super easy, but took some time (I did some math...crazy, I know...to make sure that my lines were evenly spaced). I can't remember the exact amount of $ I spent on everything, but I estimate that the entire project cost under $30.  If you're looking for a home office dry-erase board, I HIGHLY recommend making one for yourself. You can customize it and it costs less then most similar options out there. 

Finally, I want to leave you with a few pics from our Election Day party last week. It was a great time with a great ending :)

 Em's homemade Obama 2012 election cookies...they were obviously a big hit...look at them!!

 My famous guac to start the party...within the hour, the table was packed with everyone's election night edible contributions...from salads, to tarts, to sausage & cheese, to pizza. Yum!!!

 Caught Em in the act...this pretty girl is not only a great cookie baker/designer, but also a brain (neoroscientist to be specific)...and as of this week, she is also ENGAGED!!!! Yay!!! Congrats to Em and Pete!!

 Shaikes...not only is the girl super cute, she's also a top-notch pastry chef...so guess what she brought? The MOST delicious apple caramel crumble in jars (everyone got one) which was later topped with vanilla ice cream. I am seriously salivating just typing this description out...so so so good.

Oh, did I mention that Shaikes is super stylish too? Check out that Chambray shirt and those lace shorts!

Unfortunately, I was so wrapped up in election results coverage that I forgot to get pics of the other 7/8 people at the party. Basically, it was more of the above...beautiful girls with yummy creations (+ Dr. Love and his friend Nima-nimers). 

Well that's all for this week's post. Remember to stop by the Mint + Chase site to check out what we're blogging about there.

Have a great weekend!!!