Hey there! Happy “it’s-almost-Memorial-Day-weekend” day! I’ll get right into the Thread, but I need to warn you that I am all over the place with this one. It’s just about as random as they come 🙂
1. Chalky. I have been working really hard on re-doing the office so I would actually want to work in there, versus setting up shop on the couch {MUCH more comfortable, but not so great for ergonomics}. I am almost done with it, but I just had to give you guys a little peek at the biggest project for our office facelift: a giant magnetic chalkboard {thanks for all your help, Troy!}. You may remember this project a while back, where I made a big inspiration bulletin board of sorts. Well, it’s been almost a year since that board came into my life and I am kind of starting to hate it. Something about a bulletin board, push pins, and photos that just didn’t seem right. So I brainstormed and thought it would be genius to scrap it, gut the inside, and make a magnetic chalkboard to hang over my desk! Perfect for scribbling down to-do lists that won’t get lost in the paper shuffle, hanging photos that won’t get damaged by sharp pins, and a really cool spot to collect all of my random thoughts and ideas 🙂 We got the metallic paint from Home Depot {it took 3 thin coats} and the ‘recipe’ for custom chalkboard paint from this blog via Pinterest. It’s basically 2tbs unsanded tile grout mixed with 1c of ANY color of flat paint {I chose my signature grey}. All in all, not counting the frame, my project cost about $60 to do this 3’x4′ chalkboard {plywood + metallic paint + 2 bottles of sample paint from Home Depot + unsanded tile grout + brushes, mixing containers, and rollers}. Not too bad, right? A heck of a lot cheaper than buying an already-made one. I will make the board all pretty before next week and share some images with you, but here’s what it looks like naked:
2. Come One, Come All! I mentioned last week that the next photography workshop will be on July 14 {10a-1p}, and sign-ups are open! The class will be $125 and includes entry to the class, food and beverages, a swag bag, and a chance to win lots of cool door prizes {everyone wins something!}. We had a total BLAST at the workshop in January — relive it here. If you would like to sign up, learn more about the event, and what we will be doing, click here. Can’t wait! I hope to see you there!
3. Answer and Question for $600, Alex. I was working late last night and had the TV on in the background for noise. Jeopardy was on and, like I always do when Jeopardy is on, I tried my luck at a round of the questions, and you know what? I got almost all of them right!!! I was even answering in Jeopardy-required format {in the form of a question}! Ooooh yaaa! Since I am obviously a Jeopardy bad-ace now, I think I am going to try out for the show…. bahaha. Side note on this same topic, do you know why Jeopardy requires contestants to answer in the form of a question? I didn’t, so I Googled. Back before the show’s inception, Merv Griffin was talking to his wife about creating a new game show in the wake of the game show scandals of the late ’50s/early ’60s. There was controversy over game show contestants being given the answers to the questions in advance, so Merv’s wife playfully suggested a game where the answers were given to contestants first, and they had to come up with the questions. She gave him some examples, i.e. “5280”, to which he said “How many feet are in a mile?” Merv started working on his new show “What’s The Question”, later renamed “Jeopardy!” Pretty cool, huh?!
4. Cha-ching! Like I mentioned, I am totally gutting and de-cluttering my office, and in the process, I discovered some stray gift cards. Some were left over from our wedding {almost 4 years ago!}, others were Christmas gifts, but I couldn’t tell if any of them actually had a balance. So after logging into a almost a dozen different stores’ websites to check the cards, I realized that we were sitting on a gold mine! Ok maybe not that great, but in total, I found $92.41 spread among 8 gift cards! Boo-ya! I am a little excited about that. The big finds were $32 to Sears and $21 to AMC. I was thinking about how cool it would be to have 92.41 in cash instead, so I Googled {again}. Did you know that there is a site out there called Plastic Jungle that lets you sell your un-used giftcards for Amazon/PayPal/Cash payouts? Friggin sweet! I may be gutting and de-cluttering every drawer and shelf in our entire house soon 🙂
5. Thread Tunes. I recently saw John Mayer on Ellen, promoting his new album, Born and Raised, and I caught myself doing the ‘Tess head tilt’. I was kind of really thrown off by his cowboy-ish attire — a mix between Johnny Depp and John Wayne — oversized hat, long, unkempt hair, slouchy clothes {and appearance}. Blah. I went on iTunes to check out his new CD and hope {pray} that it was half as good as his last few {Continuum and Battle Studies}…and…it’s not 🙁 Way too folky, with way too much harmonica and subtle guitar strumming. All that’s missing is a little cowbell action. And don’t even get me started on the writing/lyrics. Super cheesy with a side of extra cheese. What do I expect though, from a guy who retreated to Montana for two years to find himself, cleanse his life of big city distractions, and become one with nature. Double blah. Needless to say, I am not liking this album one bit, although the track Something Like Olivia may be alright. May be. Super bummed about this one, folks…maybe I should just give it some time…?
6. Sneak Peek. Be sure to check in tomorrow for a little snippet from a session with a few of my favorite clients 🙂
