eating goldfish for revenge

Honey, I feel your pain about your jewelry, but you flush his goldfish.

You don't eat them.


Cops: Woman eats ex's goldfish after spat
Fight over jewelry leads to untimely demise in frying pan for seven pet fish

PASADENA, Texas - Authorities say a Houston-area woman who was burned up at her former common-law husband fried their pet goldfish and ate some of them.

Pasadena police say it's a civil matter and no charges will be filed. The seven goldfish were purchased together by the couple during happier times.

Police spokesman Vance Mitchell says the man reported on Saturday that the woman took the goldfish from his apartment.

Mitchell says the two argued earlier about some jewelry the man had given her but took back. She wanted the jewelry returned.

Officers who were dispatched to the woman's home arrived to find four fried goldfish on a plate. The woman said she already ate the other three.

DIY headboard - macgyver style

A few weeks back, Joann Fabrics had a sale, and I was excited to buy materials to make my own headboard. I brought the old headboard into our marriage, and it was actually a gift for my birthday when I was 15. A little dated... yes? I wasn't quite sure what I was doing, but I measured the headboard we already had, which was 72 inches, and that's what I went with. For the height, I stuck with the width of the fabric, which I think was 54 inches, minus the amount of fabric needed to wrap around the foam, batting, and board.

Here's the fabric, batting, foam (1 inch), wood (birch ply - we already had it) and DIY covered button kits.

Making covered buttons stinks, I'll tell you that right now... but they do look nice.
Here's the back of the board - the husband put three strips with triangle notches to hang it on the wall. He also drilled 8 centered holes that will later house the covered buttons.

You'll also need spray adhesive to join the foam and board - you can't really skip this step. I tried, but the foam shifts around. Also in this picture is string, but we'll come to that later.

You'll also need a staple gun, loooots of staples, heavy duty scissors, and a hammer.

Here's the wood with the foam and batting. You'll want to stretch the batting as much as you can, but not too much - it does tear pretty easily!

And here's the fabric being stretched. I found it easier to staple one side on the selvage edge and then stretch the long side, stapling it down as I went.

Here's a close up of the fabric - I chose a brown microsuede. I wanted a print initially but I would have too much stress choosing bedding if I went that way.

Here are the covered buttons - my fingers were seriously sore after making them.

Here's where it gets Macgyver-like. I didn't think about what the string would tie to. And I also didn't think about my needle (which you totally need) not fitting the string I had. So what's a girl to do?! I used long golf tees and.... wait for it....

DENTAL FLOSS! Crest Glide brand, to be specific. It fit well in my needle and is very sturdy. And it smells nice! Ha.

Here's the completed product on the wall. Not a great photo, but you get the idea.

The finished product photo will have to wait until after I get new bedding. I took some of the current situation but they look kind of sad!

The final price for everything related to the headboard was around $50, however, the fabric, batting, and foam were all 50% off plus a 10% off coupon. And we already had the wood. Not too shabby!

business travel miscellany

I returned late last night (actually it was the morning) from a business trip to Dallas. I'd never had the pleasure of visiting Dallas, but I really didn't get to see much. We did get out one night for dinner at the Galleria (which, oh my gosh, would have been wonderful had it not been 7:45pm when we arrived for dinner!) and ate at Luxe Cafe. Although the client event we were there for went really well, I am so glad to be back at home with the husband and doggies. Three tidbits:

• I totally carried a knife on the plane and got through security. Before you assume that I'm some serial killer, let me explain. I have a little Swiss army knife that I got in Switzerland some years ago. It has my name and the year, and has a nail file, scissors, flat screwdriver head, tweezers... very handy. I keep it in my purse for emergencies, and apparently, I forgot to take it out before we left. I am both a) a little frightened about what else makes it through security and b) thankful I was not found and subjected to a full body search.
• Hotel carpet smells gross. Worse than gross. The backstory? The peep hole in the door of my hotel room was made for giants. I am not a tall girl, but at 5'1" it's not like I have special needs or anything. I couldn't reach it on my tip toes or in shoes standing on my tip toes, so I peeked under the door. Which meant getting my face thisclose to hotel carpet. Because you know I have seen some damn Dateline special about ladies traveling alone and feel the need to be extra careful. You never know when a pocket knife-wielding serial killer will show up at your door.
• Terminal A of DFW is terrible. We arrived into Terminal D, which was awesome! We had 2 hours to kill after arriving to the airport before our flight so we thought we'd walk around and eat some dinner. Wrong. Terminal D has nothing good, and the TGI Friday's is crappy at best. On the plus side, they did have Bud Light Lime.

wedding fun

On Saturday the husband and I met up with my family to attend a wedding of a family friend we've known for just about ever. My camera died shortly after we got there so I don't have any photos of the flowers or decor (which is a shame because they were modern and gorgeous) but I have a few from the night.

Clearly, I am an awesome dancer. My dress is from Ann Taylor 2 years ago and is dupioni silk with a bow and inverted pleats in the front. The shoes are Coach.

I mean really, can you top this? I think not.
This is the husband and my brother. And my spray tan.Here's another one of the husband and me.

The wedding itself was held at a theater and old Masonic lodge, and the cocktail hour was in a room with movie-theater seating around the edges. My mom took this one. Don't the husband and I look serious? I was probably trying to talk him into getting me another Bud Light Lime so I could give my feet a break.

We had a good time, needless to say!

just send me what i ordered, will ya?

Earlier this week I ordered some petal tees from Ann Taylor Loft, along with some necklaces. Yesterday I got the tracking information, so I was excited to receive the package. But then today I got an email that one of the necklaces I ordered had been cancelled because they were no longer in stock. Bummer! But I noticed that the tracking information said that the necklace had shipped, so that was strange.

When I got home and opened up the package this evening, I looked at everything, and noticed that the packing slip had included the cancelled necklace as being included in the package. How weird is that?! Has that ever happened to you?

dear restoration hardware,

Your furniture is beautiful and I love your linens.

But there is no chance in hell I am buying a flipping desk made out of a goddamn suitcase. Especially not for $3995. No way, no how.

Love,

Brittany

petal parade

Ann Taylor Loft has this adorable tee with flower detail that's a special value for $14.50 through tonight at midnight (regular price - $36.50). I wish they still had the purple color that was in the email but it's sold out! I got them in this red color, black, and white. They also had cream. I picked up some necklaces too (they're buy one, get 50% off the second). Use coupon code 104002172 for 15% off orders of $75 or more - I found it via retailmenot.com. It covered shipping and then some, which of course, I love. I hate paying for shipping!

I'm anxious to get my order - luckily a JCrew package should be at my doorstep tomorrow to keep me occupied until then!

martha on the cheap

I've been a busy lady lately, hence the lack of posts! The husband and I are tackling some projects around the house, and this time of year is busy for me at work. I should be busy painting our den right now but I ran out of paint. Harvest gold paint. I'll be sure to post photos when it's done - I think it'll look fab but the husband has his doubts.

This morning we went out for brunch to a fancy schmancy place (that I wouldn't necessarily return to, sorry husband) and afterwards I told the husband I wanted to stop at Big Lots. There isn't one in close proxmity to our house, and and the two that are within driving distance are a little scary. I probably wouldn't go there alone, which is saying a lot.

I found what I was looking for... Martha Stewart paper goods! No, she isn't doing a line of crafts for Big Lots - but it looks like her Michael's line ended up there. I got 4 card kits and some super cute ribbon.

I wish they had those tissue paper pom pom kits - those are darling. But I really like the cards kits that I got. For $2 each, the price certainly can't be beat. The ribbon was only $3. They'll make great cards to send to our grandmas in care packages, and it'll give me something fun to make.

If you're in the market for kiddie crafts of bridal/baby shower items, they had tons of those too - most under $4!

new ann taylor?

If you're on the email list for Ann Taylor, you probably got the email this morning about the new Ann Taylor. I have to say, she looks a lot like the old Ann Taylor, but perhaps with better photography.

I do have hope they'll have better stuff. But when I can't find what all is different on their website.... I do wonder just who the new Ann Taylor is and what she did with the old one.