I woke up in a terrible mood.

Actually, I woke up in a fantastic mood…until I went downstairs.

I took one look at the kitchen sink and my heart sank.

I wish I could be one of those people who get all of their chores done the night before and know what it’s like to wake up in a clean house.

In typical me fashion, I wait until a problem gets too big to be ignored and then stress over it for a million years before I actually accomplish it.  Until then, I tiptoe around a mess hoping it will just go away by itself.  It never does.

So back to this morning.  The dishes were to the ceiling and they had been sitting in the sink for literally days.  As I was actually counting the number of days that I’m too embarrassed to admit here, I was standing in the kitchen in disbelief.  Here I go again, letting things get way out of hand before I tackled them.  The dishes were going to take forever, I just knew it!  I hate doing dishes anyway and the thought of doing them for days took every bit of energy right out of me.  I finally decided to swallow my pride and get to work.  I made this mess, it was time to clean it up.

You know how long it took me to do the dishes?

10 minutes.

I couldn’t believe it.

I’ve been going through some weird personal growth things lately and accomplishing those dishes in 10 short minutes made me stand back and think about my life.  If something that could seem so impossible be accomplished in 10 minutes, what else can I do?!

Only I can draw up a life lesson from a sink of dirty dishes.

Throw it away!

Deal with it!

Here are some links I’m loving this week…

- Neon Italian Cream Sodas :  These look delish!

- Wake Up, Log On, Fear For Humanity :  Yes!  All the feels!

- Pizza Spaghetti Squash Boats :  I never really thought about squash & pizza going together, but Ali makes this recipe look awesome!  I want to try it!

- 16 Layered Popsicles to Enjoy All Summer Long :  I wish I had the patience to make these!

- 8 Glamping Destinations That Will Blow Your Mind :  I’m not a huge fan of camping, but I can totally get behind this glamping thing!  These places look incredible.

- Here Are 34 Truly Terrifying Stories That’ll Keep You Captivated (And Scared) For Hours On End :  Here I am again with the scary stories.  I just can’t get enough!

- Which Summer-Themed Movie Should You Watch Based On Your Favorite Summer Fruit? : I love this…& I also want to watch all the summer movies ever! #summerforever

Here I am once again with my weekly favorite links!

- Refrigerator Pickles : I recently found Wit & Vinegar through Jessica’s blog & I’m loving every.single.post!  These refrigerator pickles look so good…and so easy!

- 28 Pictures That Are True For No Reason At All : Why are these so true?!

- 21 Technicolor Treats That Will Make Your Mouth Water : I want to make all of these rainbow recipes!

- 18 Cocktails Guaranteed To Keep You Pleasantly Buzzed This Summer :  These recipes put my Watermelon Sangria to shame!  I need to seriously up my alcoholic drink game!

- c. 1830 Cabin – Russellville, AL : Ever since we bought our log home, I’ve been interested in seeing how log cabins are decorated and this home looks lovely! I love the rustic feel & the outbuildings are so awesome!

- No Churn Tutti Fruitti Ice Cream :  Confession time:  I have an ice cream maker that I’ve never used!  I figure after so many years of wanting to make ice cream & not wanting to mess with the maker, that I’m just a no churn girl!  This recipe is what I’ve been looking for!

- 11 Fruit Boats That Are *Almost* Too Pretty to Eat :  If I had the patience, fruit boats would totally be my jam, but for now, they’re just pretty to look at!

- Here’s Everything Coming to Netflix July 2016 :  All of the Back To The Future movies are on Netflix!  You have no idea how happy this makes me!

What’s on your radar lately?

Back in March, I misplaced my memory card & hoped that I would find it in our move…well, I never did!  There were about 2 months worth of pictures gone forever!  I’m still not over it…

But!  I was going through some of my blog post drafts & came across a couple pictures that were on the memory card of our living room furniture when we first got it, so I’m sharing them with you today!

I have to stop right here & take a trip down memory lane!  Those pictures were taken in what is now the kitchen of our house!  Because we’re all moved in now, I forget the many, many, many months of when our house was a complete disaster construction zone!

Anyway…

We picked this furniture up at the ReStore the same day we got our kitchen cabinets.  While the cabinets needed repairs & paint, all this furniture needed was a coat of polyurethane!  We chose this style of furniture for our living room because when we put in the grand staircase, our living room got really, really small and this furniture was small enough to fit in there.

I’m working on taking ‘after’ photos of our house, but our house is just so difficult to photograph!  Every time I go to take pictures, I feel like a total failure because our house is so cool, but I can’t capture it in photographs!

In the meantime, here’s some pictures of the furniture when it was in our loft area:

Also, when you’re fixing up a house, the dust game is real!  My house totally doesn’t have that much noticeable dust now!

Happy 4th!  I hope you have a safe & great day!

Happy 4th of July weekend!

What are your plans for the weekend?  I currently have zero plans except for working a couple days during the weekend.  I’m hoping to change my lack of plans situation, though!  I’m up for anything this weekend so bring it on!

Before I share this fabulous strawberry pie with you, I have to tell you a little behind the scenes story…

Our main porch is on the front of our house, which is awesome if we want to do all of our porch stuff (grilling, entertaining, eating, etc.) in full view of the road & our neighbors.  It’s also where I drag my photography stuff out & take food pics for the blog.  The pictures look great on my blog, but behind the camera, it looks kind of ridiculous.  I realized last night that I’m the weird neighbor with the tripod, pie & chair set up on my porch!

Ok…now it’s about the pie!

I found this recipe for strawberry pie on Pinterest a while ago & finally decided to make it.  It didn’t disappoint!  I love it so much that I made another one 2 days later & I’m going to make another one this weekend.  Can’t stop…won’t stop!

Also, I totally cheated making this.  I found a pie crust that was prebaked and just used that!  It was awesome because crimping the edges of a pie crust is totally not my thing, which I found out when I made my first pie.  It was delicious, but ugly!

Side note:  only I could make such a yummy pie look dreadful in photographs!

Head on over to Cincy Shopper for the recipe!

Now for the 4th of July links!

- 13 Flag Cakes To Celebrate July 4th In Style

- Rock These Independence Day Nails for 4th of July Weekend

-  24 of the Best Red, White + Blue Party Ideas for 4th of July

- FABulous Fourth!

- DIY Fourth of July Balloon Bikes

- Patriotic Terra Cotta Pot Wrappers

Whatever you do, I hope you have a great weekend!