We Are Headed To Miss USA Tomorrow and Need YOU!!!

If I am posting on Saturday you know that it must be important right?

This BEAUTIFUL girl is my cousin Kendyl Bell

 

I know.  I am jealous too.

 

She is competing tomorrow (Sunday) night for the crown and we need your help!!

They are taking one online voted contestant into the Top 16 and we would love your vote!!  (I say we because if you have ever left a comment on my blog you know how I feel about this sort of thing, and if you have no clue what I am talking about scroll down and read my comment box info…)

Ken is one of the most incredible women I have ever met and she deserves this more than anyone in the world!

This pic is when she won Miss Utah, isnt she so cute!?!

So PLEASE take a few minutes and vote for her (you can vote up to 10x a day from one email address)  and if you tune into the pageant tomorrow watch for us in the second row madly cheering her on (I am sure that you will hear my super loud cat calling… so just be aware that its your Mandilicious)

VOTE  HERE

Love  Your  Guts,  Mandi

My Surrogate

Well, sort of.

Remember my DREAM couch that I showed you yesterday?  Lets look at her again shall we? (sigh)

Perfection on tiny golden casters.  I think we need to name her…

Anyways.

I mentioned that I bought her from one of my friends after she posted about it, so now I want to share with you my couch surrogate!!  Kathy from Danish Mama.  

She will always be my Surrogate because technically she cared for and nurtured this beautiful piece of couch baby until it was delivery day (haha get it!?  Delivery day!!  Sigh.).  Then she kissed her goodbye (actually I don’t know that but that is what I would have done.) and I totally have the easy job of threatening my children with their lives every time they even THINK about bringing food/drink/playdoh into the living room.  

Kathy is one of the funnest and most adorable women that you will ever have the pleasure of meeting.

First of all she is Danish.  I mean, for a homegirl from Utah THAT is a huge deal. 

She is super business savvy.  Kathy has a great company called Little Stinker that is all about safe and natural ways to treat all baby induced ailments (think engorgement after delivery, nursing cream and their signature product, baby bum spray) and uses her blog to showcase great companies and fun products.  My favorite posts are ones where she flashes her Danish heritage like this recipe for Brunsviger (Poor Mans Birthday Cake)

And if being adorable, Danish, an incredible business owner, and a cook isn’t enough she does fun stuff like gardening with her kiddies.

And I would totally encourage following her on FB, you know just incase she has any more ridiculously fab pieces of furniture that she is incubating for us all.

 

Love  Your  Guts,  Mandi

The Couch! The Couch!

Hooray!!  The couch is HERE!

If you are new or unfamiliar with the couch dilemma you can check out this post (there are TONS of amazing comments so check those out too!)

 

The inner turmoil that I was having was about to make me explode (first world blogger problems I know)  The other problem that I was running into was the lack of options,  It is super hard to find a vintage couch in great condition, especially a velvet one.

But the heavens opened when I saw that one of my favorite friends Kathy posted that she had a couch to sell.  It was tufted, velvet, and ORANGE and in great condition!  I was sold.

Now I know what you are thinking.  WHITE WALLS?  In Mandi’s house?!! Oh my friends, there is so much more to be done.  I have a custom stencil from Royal Design Studios that should be arriving in a few days and LOTS of other things that are in process right now that I cant wait to show you!

So what do you think?  Do you love the couch?  Do you think I made the wrong choice? Do you have an old couch that you love??

Love  Your  Guts,  Mandi

FFA Challenge #5: Your DIY Uniform

Last week I posted this ridiculously fabulous picture of myself:

I know you are jealous of my hotness.

So yesterday when I should have been cleaning (oh how many stories I tell that begin with that sentence….) I just finished responding to emails and Victorious was on Nick.  This is a show that I don’t let my girls watch but since I am a mom and the remote was across the room and the girls were playing in the back yard….(Go with me here on this random tangent) 

In the episode Tori had to perform “The Bird Scene” , a scene that everyone that goes to her school has to do correctly without any help from others.  She performs the scene 3 times and after each one asks if she got it right, to which her teacher tells her no.  After receiving the third no, Tori gets mad and tells him that she worked really hard on it and she didn’t care if he liked it or not, that she was proud of it.  And that was the right answer.  The teacher explained that artists need to create for themselves and not for everyone's approval, or if they are doing things the “right” way.

I was like YES!

Part of embracing your inner DIYer is embracing ALL that comes along with it.  Like the sweet get up!

This may sound strange but I bet a few of you will get it.  When I am all paint covered and have to run to the store I DON’T CARE.  You know how  most guys have scars that are like their trophies? That is how I feel about paint.  It is my trophy for the day, that I did something great.  Unhygienic? Possibly.  But its true!

So for todays challenge I want you to share your DIY get up and you thoughts on wearing it in public!

 

Love  Your  Guts,  Mandi

The Hoard Sale 2012

One of the lessons that I have learned in my DIY life is when you are shopping (ESPECIALLY thriting) and you see something you like GET IT.  It will save you money in the long run to pay $8.00 for a chair as opposed to $100+ because you NEED it.

But alas my friends, when you follow this plan you accumulate a lot of stuff.  And by a lot, I mean every time someone rings my doorbell unexpectedly I have a vision of the TV crew from Hoarders showing up.

Last week I teamed up with my BFF Brooke @ All Things Thrifty to have a giant Hoard Sale, and it was EPIC. THANK YOU to everyone who came and travelled and danced,  you guys are so amazing!!

There was only a handful of things left when we shut her down at 12:30.

We had the BEST time getting to know so many readers and though there were a few things that we were heartbroken to see go we know they went somewhere awesome.

This will be a yearly event (possibly more frequently depending on the state of our garages) so if you missed this one you have something to look forward to!

And of course we used the 5 Tips for creating Garage Sale MAGIC!!

 

Love  Your  Guts,  Mandi