summertime.

summertime is home-made raspberry soda in mason jars.

a day in real life - vol. 1

Hi y'all! Casey - over at The Wiegand's - inspired me yesterday to get real and share images of my real life. No posed shots. No super happy probably only lasted for three seconds smiles. Real images of life in motion. Today's installment is from Thursday, June 13th, 2013 (yesterday) and all shots were taken after 8pm. It was my evening, realistically.

after worship practice. new lens means mirror pictures are perfectly acceptable, right?

this drive has become a blur - literally. I drive it so many days a week I could do it in my sleep.

addicted to "lucky guy" by mockingbird sun right now.

yes. I'm one of those girls who proudly displays her tassel in her car. mine even has rhinestones ;)

came home and changed into leggings and an all too big sweatshirt. 

dropped my keys on my nightstand...next to the other important things in life.

walked into my closet to tackle laundry. lets be honest...most days it looks like this

...instead of this...

clothes are spilling out of my dresser, per usual.

and my dryer door is open. 

there is a stack of books from the library that I haven't even touched yet.

and my bathroom counter looks like this. 

my bed went all day without being made...

my towel was hung up crooked and my sandals are on the floor...

along with my running shoes and roller skates..

but, knowing full well I should deal with all of the above, I stop and take another picture in the mirror.

 happy friday, my sweet readers ♥ next time you think of it, take a picture of your real life. and share with me if you do! I would love to read (see) a day in your life!

DIY: wooden 4th of july sign

Hi loves! Guuuuuuess what?! Independence day is in LESS THAN A MONTH! Eeek! Guess what else? It just so happens to be my most favorite holiday in the entire world! I love it so much.

Last year, I whipped up five DIY hair bow tutorials for y'all - you can find those here. And this year, I thought I'd break out the paint and woodstain and bring you something that requires a little more work! Ready?!

You will need: 

A square piece of plywood (or almost square - mine was 23"x24")

Dark woodstain

Old rag for staining

White paint

Paintbrushes

White chalk

Sandpaper for sanding out mistakes - they happen! 

Brown craft paper to put under your project - unless you don't care about whatever it's on!

Start out with your board on paper. As you can see in the photo, I tested out a bit of the stain before doing the full board to make sure I liked it. I did :) 

This is the wood finish/stain I used - and I love it. It was the perfect color for my taste. 

Stain your board - fully. I used an old rag, so it wasn't too think. I wanted to maintain the pattern the plywood has and I loved the depth the stain created. Make sure to stain the sides, too.

Let the stain dry (I didn't wait that long, honestly. I think I waited like 5 minutes. It was a thin layer and I'm impatient!) and grab your chalk. Decide how you want to write out your phrase - You could do it like I did or rearrange and change it up! Up to you. 

 Write it out with the chalk - just a small outline. Doesn't have to be perfect, it's just a guideline. And guess what? If you mess up, just use your stain rag and "erase" it. Sigh. the glories of temporary art supplies. 

After you have your outline, pick up your paint brush and go to town! The paint I used was called "Chalk" by Royal Interiors for Ace Hardware. I'm in love with it. You'll want to let your first layer dry - try not to mess with it too much. You can go back and touch up all you want. I let mine dry about 15 minutes, did another layer, and let that dry overnight. If you drop or drip any paint, wipe it off with your fingers and sand it out. It'll easily be recovered by a quick rub or two of your stain cloth.

this is how it looked after I touched up - I added some stars and made the letters thicker. I did even more detailing after this. And thus, my final product was born.

I also took some red spray paint and sprayed it lightly on the rag I used for staining and rubbed it around the edges of the board. I liked what it added. this is totally optional.

I used the sign I made for the fireplace mantel display - but you could attach hooks and hang it, mount it, anything, really!

If you make this, shoot a link my way - I'd love to see your take on it! 

xoxo, Ruthanne

graduated + life update.

I don't really know how to start off this post.

It's been two months since I've written here on my blog.

Since then, a lot has changed, to be honest.

The most important of all being that I graduated high school last weekend.

It was a lovely day and I was so blessed by the 60 people who attended my graduation and party. God sure has given me some seriously awesome friends.

I also discovered I am gluten intolerant. I would like to be tested for celiac's disease but I'm terrified that the results will come back positive. 

For the past year and a half I've been having a lot of celiac's/gluten intolerance symptoms, and within two weeks of removing gluten from my diet most of them had gone away. Two weeks ago I accidentally ate some non GF peanut butter cookie dough - and within 20 minutes I was lightheaded and tired - sure signs of sensitivity/allergy.

On the lighter side though...

The movie I've been waiting for a year to come out finally came out and I saw it. It was perfection. Gatsby. Y'all. See it. Now. 

It kinda snowed in April. Typical NorCal weather...still made me irritated.

I shattered my phone screen and had to pay to replace it because it killed my phone's ability to function for more than an hour. Lame.

My brother's lacrosse team continued their undefeated streak all the way til Championships...and won their game 19-4. Proud sister.

I launched a photography endeavor. We'll see if we can call it a business by August. Cross your fingers, y'all.

I took up running. And then got sick for 4 weeks and haven't ran in 3. This week I'm getting back at it. Finally.

I became addicted to my aviator sunglasses. GAH.

We got chickens - 6 of them to start. Somehow, however, we also got a dozen eggs - mis-communication on my parents' end. The eggs incubated, and five of them hatched. Three on their own, and the other two I hatched in my hand after 12 hours of struggle - one died that night, but oh my word they were precious. It's amazing to watch life come into this world, as minuscule as a chick may be.

5 of our [now] 9 chickens - a dog cruelly ran off with one while we had our backs turned. but man, does our zoey love them! 

Ethel- my own personal chick. She has double lashes on her eyes. presh.

We went to the ocean for a few days. I was hoping to fish, but because I was so sick (like, 2-hours-of-sleep-you're-coughing-so-much kind of sick) I didn't get to. The view was nice though.

Oh, and we finished our back yard! it's glorious. Grass and a firepit and oh my lanta I'm in love.

There's more to tell, but honestly, I'd rather skip all that and just start now.

Because I plan on being diligent from now on and posting about life and such. 

Roll your eyes, please. Because I'm rolling mine too.

So, here's to trying to blog, again, and my future...of who knows what. 

[grad pictures to come soon - none of my family took/posted any on social media - how strange, I know, but I'll have some soon]

xoxo,

Ruthanne 

p.s.

if you still actually read this blog, please comment, so I know what I'm starting with. with no more GFC things are gonna have to change.

p.p.s

if you can see all these images - comment, too! trying to figure out why people couldn't see all my pictures. thanks, lovelies.