#16 - Get a new Cell Phone

I actually got this phone for my birthday back in January. Yeah, I'm a little behind on updating my list. But #16 on my 101in1001 list was to get a new phone. I can now check that one off! I got the HTC Inspire 4G from ATT. I love it. This is my first smartphone and I couldn't be more addicted. The one thing I love most about this phone is that the camera is 8mp. That is equal to my digital Samsung camera. Plus with the auto focus and settings, it works much, much better! M has had an iphone and now an atrix, so I've played with smartphones for years, just never had one of my own. I have officially joined the bandwagon.

I know. There's nothing to exciting about this post. Just me updating my list a bit. So I thought that maybe I'd share some of my favorite apps with you! If you guys have any of these as well, feel free to follow me/add me!

• INSTAGRAM - I am obsessed with IG. I use it multiple times a day. My user name is: hollyinwonderland. I'm always looking for new friends to follow!
• RELAX & SLEEP - This one I downloaded a while ago but just recently started to use it. It has a list of sounds (a LOT of sounds) that you can play at night as your falling asleep. I'm one of those people who can't sleep if it's too quiet. It has a timer on it, so that after a certain time it will shut itself off. I use this every single night now!
• DRAW SOMETHING - Super fun! I don't play as much as I used to. I tend to go through phases where I'll play something obsessively for a while and then not touch it for a while. I usually log into this through my facebook account, but I believe my username is hollymade if you want to play me!
• AIR HID - M and I both have this one. It allows us to be even more lazy! :) We hook our laptop up to the television almost daily, so that we can watch our tv shows on a bigger screen. Well this lets you have a mouse on your phone. So you don't have to get up and walk over to the computer to change something. You also have to download an app for your computer, but it's free and we love it!

I've tried multiple photo editing apps and camera's but just recently went through and deleted almost all of them. I'll try to do another post sometime if I find some more apps that I just can't live without! Do you have a favorite app? Let me know so I can check it out!

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RECIPE {blueberry pound cake}

My mom makes this cake all the time. My parents have blueberry bushes, so this is a easy way to use a lot of them up. Sunday, on top of being Father's Day, it was also my dad's birthday. Since this is one of his favorite cakes, I decided to make it for him. This was my first time making this cake but it was so easy, I'll definitely be making it again! I didn't get a picture of the whole cake because we all dug into it almost immediately!

Blueberry Pound Cake

• 1 cup of butter, softened
• 2 cups of sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 cups of flour + 1 cup for coating blueberries
• 1 pint blueberries

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. In a mixing bowl, mix together the butter and sugar until fully blended. Next add in the eggs and mix well. Next, mix in vanilla, salt, baking powder and flour. You should have a nice super thick batter. Using the remaining cup of flour, coat the blueberries. Once they've got a good coat of flour, add them into the batter. (Don't let all the extra flour go in with them tho! Just the berries.) Fold the berries into the batter until they've mixed in well. Pour into a greased/floured bunt pan. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Let cool completely and then flip onto your cake plate!

My dad prefers his without icing, but I like a little drizzle on mine. The mixture I use is confectioners sugar, a few drops of vanilla and a bit of milk. I don't really measure these out. I just put the sugar in a bowl and add in the milk and vanilla and stir it up. Just play with the sugar/milk until you reach your desired consistency!

Enjoy!!

LINKING UP @

A bowl full of Lemons

Sumo's Sweet Stuff
My Girlish Whims
Handy Man, Crafty Woman
Ginger Snap Crafts
Sew Much Ado
Lady Behind the Curtain
Liz Marie Blog

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Freebie Friday #1

About a month ago, I have mildly majorly become obsessed with the freebie/sample sites that are out there. I have reached the point where I check a few certain sites multiple times a day. It's fun! It's also amazing what you can get for free. Since starting this, I've probably signed up for over 100 things. Food samples, Beauty samples, Magazine subscriptions, Jewelry and more! So I decided that every week, I'll snap some pictures of some of the stuff I get in the mail and share with you guys. Considering most freebies take 6-8 weeks to receive, this past week I haven't gotten a ton. A few of the things I got the week before. Before the pictures, I'll share some of my favorite sites, in case you guys want to check them out too!

1. http://www.heyitsfree.net/
2. http://www.ilovefreethings.com/
3. http://www.ericsfreesite.com/

These are the 3 that I check on a regular basis. Sometimes when I have a little more time to kill, I'll click around to some of the others that they list on their site. Now the pictures!

Items pictured:

June/July 2012 issues of Martha Stewart Living

Jiffy Mix recipe book {get it here!}

VCF (vaginal contraceptive films) {get it here!} these freak me out just a bit!! but I was curious..

ASPCA poison control safety pack {get it here!}

free meal deal from Zaxby's {join the mail club here!}

Ring and Bracelet from Sneakpeeq {each month they offer a freebie for a new signup!}

Ball point pen {honestly can't remember where this one was from.}

Dove deodorant sample {get it here!} it's for Costco members, but i was informed to just put a random 12 digits in the member box. evil, but free!

Items not pictured:

Pool test strips

Horse treats from Winnie's Cookies

Let me know if you do the freebie thing too! Or especially if you're going to start! Have a great weekend!!

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Vintage Sewing Desk

I have finally finished the sewing desk that my dad got for me months ago. (Actually truth be told, I'm not 100% finished yet. I still need to paint the inside of the drawers, but I'm lazy.) Here is the before:

It was not in bad shape, just really, really dirty. Like wasp nests and dirt dobbers (sp?) on the inside dirty. I chose to paint it with Rustoleum's Winter Grey and added some white stripes and hardware. I have been really uninspired for the last couple months, so this poor guy got really neglected. I would paint a little on it one day and then go 2 weeks before I touched it again. And as I was deciding to write up this post, I realized that I didn't take a single picture with the top down. The top of the desk lifts up and slides down the back side to reveal the spot where you can store your sewing machine. I'm a photo loser. And I've moved it into a "storage" area, so I'm not gonna go digging in to take another picture. (there's that laziness again.)

notice the cat tail photo bomb?!

I really do like how it turned out and I'll really be glad to get it "finished" finished so I can sell it. I have got to make some space in my house. My lack of inspiration here lately has resulted in small large piles of stuff all over the house. But I'm hoping that I'm starting to come out of my slump. Only time will tell, I suppose. :)

LINKING UP @ Handy Man, Crafty Woman, My Girlish Whims, DIY by Design, Lil' Luna, Ginger Snap Crafts, Sew Much Ado, Domestically Speaking, Liz Marie Blog, Miss Mustard Seed

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Custom Art DIY

A few weeks ago my dad got several boxes of "junk" from a friend of his. His friend bought the whole load at a flea market for like 15$. After he got out what he wanted, he gave the rest to my dad. So of course, I went through it. I pulled out a box full of stuff that I kept and these pictures are just one of the many things I kept to makeover.

solid wood frames. the pictures are just not my style.

I debated for a while on how I wanted to use them. Finally I decided to just bust out some spray paint. I picked Blue Lagoon and Berry from Rustoleum. I think that these are 2 of my favorite colors. I didn't do anything special, just 2 good coats of paint. Then I printed out a couple of simple pages with our initials on them. I chose orange for the blue frame and green for the pink one. I love how they turned out. Very simple, yet it'll add a pop of color to our living room. I plan on getting some floating shelves to hang between our front door and window, but until then, these are just chilling in a safe spot. Now I wish I had more frames to play with!

Ps. It's really hard to take pictures of glass without getting that god awful glare/reflection thing going on!

LINKING UP @ Handy Man, Crafty Woman, My Girlish Whims, DIY by Design, Lil' Luna, Ginger Snap Crafts, Sew Much Ado, Domestically Speaking, Liz Marie Blog,

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{HOME} living room wall addition

About a year ago, M and I decided to start remodeling our kitchen/living room area. It's a slow process. We are working as we can afford to do so, a little at a time. Our kitchen/living area used to be one huge room, with nothing but the kitchen counter/bar separating the two. We decided to split them up and build a wall between them. This way, we can expand our kitchen cabinets and hang the television on the wall.

we started by ripping up the carpet.

then we built the wall frame.

next came the drywall, and a huge mess.

we also built in the fish tank!

Now the wall is pretty much done, painted and the television is hung. We love it. Plus I'm hoping that it helps keep the two rooms cooler this summer. It was so hot when it was one huge room. We haven't touched the kitchen side of the wall. That will have to wait for a little more funds and once the living room is done. One project at a time! :)

tv setup. post coming up about the chest!

the other side. doorway, fishtank.

this is my favorite part. it looks so good!

We still have some painting to do. You can notice the wall next to the fish tank has yet to gain some color. We chose the color "Chinchilla" from the Martha collection. It's a nice light grey. And we don't have any of the molding/trim back up since we aren't completely finished painting yet. The cords on the tv are still a little wonky too. M wired it all up so that no cords would be showing, but we are having some issues with our surround sound unit. Until we can get that shipped off to be fixed, we've had to rewire things a little crazy. I've got several more projects I've been working on for the living room. I can't wait until it's all put together. As if I need more of a reason to lay on the couch and watch television. But soon I'll never want to leave this room!


LINKING UP @ A bowl full of Lemons, Handy Man, Crafty Woman, My Girlish Whims,

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