california, part four

okay, so I'm a little embarrassed to admit how we spent our last day in California, but I guess it's kind of funny... and a memory is a memory, right?

well, basically, while we were at the Angels game the night before, we were lured into a booth outside of the stadium with the promises of a free iPad and trip to Hawaii... so, we had every reason to stop... right? (ha! in retrospect.. wrong, so wrong). it took the guy about 15 minutes to convince us to drive out to San Diego the next day to check out a resort and sit through a "short" presentation on timeshares. easy enough, right? also, I was having trouble walking from how sore my feet and legs were, so we were both completely okay with skipping out on our 3rd day in Disneyland (because honestly, at that moment, nothing sounded less appealing that another full day of walking and waiting in lines). so, we signed the paper and the plans were made- we were headed out to San Diego for our last full day in California.

to be honest, it was a fun and unexpected adventure... at first. we were able to stop at the San Diego temple, which is a temple I have always wanted to see. the place literally looks like a castle! we ended up meeting a couple of sweet sister missionaries on the temple grounds, and they gave us tips on good beaches in the area (then again, are missionaries really the best people to get advice from on beaches?...just kidding). San Diego is in the middle of a pretty awful drought at the moment, so the grounds weren't as beautiful as they usually are, but major props to the church for not using more water than necessary! the place was still completely stunning.

after the temple, we headed out to Walmart to stock up on treats for our beach trip later that day. afterwards, we were off to the resort for our timeshare presentation.

I am not going to bore you with the details- and to be honest, even talking about it still makes me frustrated (I guess I'm still not in the "able to laugh about it" phase), but what was supposed to be a 90 minute presentation, quickly turned into 4 hours. yeah, you read that right- 4 hours. 4 hours. we had made it pretty clear in the first 30 minutes that we were not going to be purchasing anything, and in all transparency- we were just there for our free stuff. BUT that did not stop our lovely sales agent from telling us over and over how "we were the perfect couple for this", and how this "opportunity only comes once", and making us sit through a 20 minute video on families who have built strong relationships only because they purchased a timeshare from this resort. please excuse me while I roll my eyes.

one thing that really got our blood boiling was when we were told that our marriage could fail if we didn't vacation enough, so in order to avoid such a terrible thing, we must get a timeshare now! ...seriously, what outcome do they hope to get from that sales technique? "our marriage will fail what?! we can't let that happen, where do we sign?! do you take american express?"

anyways, after about 3.5 hours, we had made it abundantly clear that we were not interested, to which the lady told us she would "have someone bring us our prizes". it wasn't our prizes that showed up next, but another sales person offering us even lower rates. I can't even begin to explain how much anxiety I was having at this moment, and when the guy was in mid-sentence, I abruptly cut him off and exclaimed- "i'm sorry, but this is our last day in California for our anniversary, and if I am not on a beach in 30 minutes, I am going to be really, really sad!"

he seemed a little shocked and uncomfortable by my outburst, but it worked! he let us leave! Kendrick and I collected our prizes and raced back to our car as fast as possible. my heart was pounding in my chest and there may have been some choice words escaped towards those people who stole four hours on the last day of our vacation. yes, we were the ones who decided to go- but please don't advertise a presentation as 90 minutes when it's really almost triple that.

the rest of the night was spent at Carlsbad beach, which was exactly what we needed. this was honestly one of the prettiest beaches I have ever been to and it was nearly empty! Kendrick and I swam in the ocean for a bit, took some pictures, and sat on the beach while the sun set. it was the perfect ending to our mini-vacation (and very frustrating day), and both of us wished the whole day had been spent there.

it was a wonderful vacation with my love, celebrating one whole year of good times. I already can't wait for our 2 year anniversary trip... which I'm sure will include a little more beach and a lot less timeshare presentation. ;)

(okay, so maybe I'm easing into the "able to laugh about it" phase)

california. part three

day three started out with a pretty upset stomach on my end, which isn't exactly how you want to start the day when you know you're going to a theme park... but c'est la vie. Kendrick and I decided to grab some breakfast at a little bagel shop, and that ended up exceeding our expectations by far. Kendrick got a sausage and cheese bagel sandwich, and I settled on a glazed bagel with strawberry shmeer (SOO good!). I wish I was feeling better, because I literally would have eaten at least six more.

after stopping at Walgreen's for some stomach mediation to stuff our fanny pack with (why yes, we did have a fanny pack on this trip), we were off to California Adventures!

I immediately loved California adventures, as it had a much more "adult" feel than Disneyland did- and that's not saying I didn't love Disneyland, but it provided a good mix. we started our day off with a ride on Tower of Terror, which may or may not have been the best idea with an upset stomach.. but who am I kidding, Tower of Terror is always a good idea (we probably went on it at least six more times that day).

another favorite ride of ours from this day was California Screamin'- seriously, funnest roller coaster ever. Also, the line for it went incredibly fast, so there was no reason not to go on it over, and over. 

Grizzly Rapids was another obvious favorite- the line to get on that one was just a little bit longer, but it was well worth it, especially in the heat!

one very helpful tip that we had received for California Adventures was to get a fast pass for the new Cars ride as soon as we entered the park. we were sure to do that, and I'm so glad we did, because fast passes were booked until 3:00 later that day! once 3 o'clock hit, and we were in the Cars fast-pass line, I was even more grateful that we got one as the regular line was probably over an hour wait. after going on the ride, I can definitely understand the wait- it was incredible! I literally felt I was in the movie Cars- and I don't even like that movie! the best part was the end, where your car races the car of people next to you. it was so much fun, and our car won, so that was a success in itself!

our feet ended up getting incredibly sore around 4 o'clock (like, I couldn't walk), so we decided to try some rides that didn't require a lengthy amount of time standing in line. there was one attraction called "It's Tough to be a Bug" that we decided to try out. we walked down a dirt path, and ended up in a nice and cool underground theater. the Bugs Life show that was put on was absolutely incredible! the special effects were great and it was actually really funny- I'm so happy we decided to give it a try (according to the line- I don't think it's exactly a main attraction, but if you go to California Adventures- go to this!)

we decided to head out a little early, as we had tickets to an Angels game that night! honestly, neither of us-or our feet- minded leaving early.. not even a little bit. once again, we raced back to the car as quickly as possible!

the Angels game was so much fun. and I especially enjoyed being able to sit down for a few hours. Kendrick and I decided to grab some dinner, and we both picked a HUGE plate of nachos (obviously we got our own, I didn't want to share!) seriously, I wish I got a picture of these nachos... they were ginormous. and we both finished them.. so, yeah, there's that.

stay tuned for part four- the very last portion of our anniversary trip!

california, part two

we woke up bright and early on Monday morning... I mean how could we not? we were going to Disneyland! after a quick breakfast in the hotel lobby, we were on our merry way.

we were firm on not paying the ridiculous prices for Disneyland parking, and were pretty excited when Kendrick came across a parking spot in a neighborhood about 15-20 minutes from the park. however, looking back on everything, the shuttle ride to and from our car would have been great after a long day of walking at Disneyland- but I am happy that the money we saved was spent on more fun things, like trying all kinds of treats within the park.

when we finally arrived at the park, I could hardly contain my excitement. we were in Disneyland! I hadn't been in over ten years, and I had so much nostalgia walking around the cobblestone paths, remembering bits and pieces of my childhood spent there. but honestly, there was a lot that I didn't remember, so I'm really happy that I was alongside my cute disneyland-enthusiast husband who knew where we needed to go and what we needed to do first.

note: I absolutely love that we went in October, as the entire place was decorated for Halloween. so much fun!

our first ride was Space Mountain, and our wait in line didn't exceed ten minutes! I was blown away by the quality of the ride- because while I'm a fan of Lagoon, those rides just don't even compare to how well done Disneyland's are... not even a little bit.

we quickly hit all of the main attractions- including Indiana Jones, Splash Mountain, Cinderella's Castle, and the Haunted Mansion. the Haunted Mansion by far had the longest wait, but it was also the most fun to look at, as the entire place was decked out in spooky Halloween decor.

we decided to tour the park a little bit after this by going through shops, taking some pictures, and grabbing a treat. obviously, I couldn't resist a dole whip, so that's the first thing I purchased. we were also on the hunt for "first anniversary" badges (basically, disneyland carries badges for all occasions, and all you need to do is ask guest services for one, and they'll give it to you for free!) however, to our disappointment, the "first anniversary" badge was getting redesigned, and that was the only one they didn't have! but, they did have "happily ever after"... I guess that will do. :)

funny story about this picture- I told Kendrick before our trip that I absolutely wanted a picture with us both in Mickey and Minney Mouse ears- I mean, in disneyland, that picture is a must. however, we soon realized that all of the booths in disneyland literally only sold Minney ears with big bows on top (I'm assuming Mickey ears weren't a top seller.. as most guys don't view walking around as a mouse "manly"). Kendrick was sure that he had gotten away with taking this picture, when towards the end of the day, we finally came across a pair of Mickey ears, sporting a wizard hat and all. so, long story short, I got my picture, and Kendrick lost a portion of his man-card.

we spent the next few hours going on lots of rides (specifically Splash Mountain over, and over, and over) and taking even more pictures. by 4 o'clock, our feet were incredibly sore, my toes were just about rubbed raw (I literally picked the worst shoes ever), and I had a very upset stomach that was requiring me to run to the bathroom every 5 minutes. we decided to head out around 5 o'clock, which really didn't matter, as the park was closing as 6 anyways for Mickey's Halloween Party. we literally raced back to the car as quickly as my limping and stomach-holding self could handle (this is where I really wished we would have done the shuttle thing).

once back at the hotel, we decided it was best to stay in and gear up for a full day at California Adventures the next day. the hotel's front desk was super sweet to send us up a bottle of wine (as they knew we were there for our anniversary), and then we sheepishly made our way downstairs to let them know we don't drink. but, they were super understanding and allowed me to trade it in for some ice-cream instead- score. 

stay tuned- our California Adventure post coming up next!

california, part one

what better way is there to celebrate a one-year anniversary than going to Disneyland and acting like a couple of eight year old kids? we honestly couldn't think up a better way, so that's exactly what we did.

our flight took off from the Provo airport on Sunday, September 27th- the day after our anniversary. "Provo airport?!" you're probably thinking. yes, not only does an airport in Provo in fact exist, but flying out from it's Allegiant airlines made our round-trip tickets $100 each. I just don't think there's anyway to top that, and that price was definitely worth the small and cramped plane and lack of complimentary drinks and pretzels.

we landed in sunny Los Angeles around 10:30 a.m. I'm not going to bore you with our travel fiasco for the next two hours, but let me just say, we were fed up with LA at around 10:36 a.m.. despite all the trouble we had with getting our rental car and the stuffy traffic everywhere, we were on the road and on the hunt for food around one o'clock. our gps search for the nearest In-N-Out Burger led us to the college town of UCLA. I'm sure it was just the food, but both of our moods brightened significantly as soon as we were fed, and we both kept commenting on how much fun this college town looked. there were seriously students everywhere, and they all seemed to be having such a great time!

in need of a nap, we decided to drive to our hotel in Anaheim. Kendrick and I were extra clever when booking our hotels for this vacation. using up all of our accrued Marriott points, a credit for a free night, and Kendrick's employee discount, we ended up paying for only one night ($40), out of the four nights that we'd be in California. of course, doing it this way meant we were in a different hotel every.single.night, but we figured our entire days would be spent at Disneyland or the beach, so as long as we had a place to sleep- it didn't matter!

after some much needed relaxation time, we decided to break out of our hotel room that night and visit Newport Beach. I am so happy that we did, as we got there just in time to watch the gorgeous sunset. Kendrick and I walked along the beach for a while, letting the waves crash against our feet as we excitedly talked about what was in store for the rest of our vacation. we were headed to Disneyland in the morning, and neither of us could hardly wait.

reupholstered dining room chairs

while we search for our own place to live, there is one thing I cannot stop doing, and that is decorating every single square inch of that future place in my head. I can't wait to decide where each piece of furniture will go, and what colors the walls should be, and adding little accents to each room that will make the entire place come to life. while this is fun, and creating "house wishlist" boards on Pinterest is drastically entertaining, there is one teeny tiny problem- furniture is expensive.

along with every other girl on this planet, I am constantly referring to Target's website for my furniture and decorating needs. while it provides plenty of inspiration, Target is dangerous. Sure, one piece of furniture there is affordable, but who stops at one piece at Target? you find a small bedside table that you like, and conveniently placed next to that table is a lamp that would look perfect on it, and then you turn to the next aisle where you find all sorts of trinkets and doodads that compliment the desk as well. before you know it you are at the checkout purchasing a duvet cover, two night stands, three throw pillows, and a jewelry holder that you simply can't imagine your life without from that point forward... I rest my case. 

one of the first things on the list that Kendrick and I need are tables and chairs, and these Target chairs have been taunting me ever since I laid eyes on their gorgeously tufted selves. 

but, as most things in life are too good to be true, each of these chairs rang in at $100 each- making it $400 for a set of 4. yeah, my husband and bank account are both telling me a big fat no on that one. however, after stumbling upon this gem of a pin right here, I knew that not all hope was lost... at least not yet. I absolutely loved so many things about this tutorial- the high back chairs, the simple no-sew reupholstering steps, and most of all, the price to do it all. 

to be honest, this whole project idea had slipped to the back of my mind for a month or so before I came across these four beauties at the DI.

beautiful, right? Just kidding, I know they are absolutely treacherous. but, the potential! I loved the high backs, the clean lines, and most of all, I loved the basket weaved back because it gave me the perfect stencil for tufting. at $8 a pop, these puppies were sold.

because these all needed to be painted/stained before any reupholstering, I decided to buy only the first-stage supplies. this included:

* spray paint- make sure that it's the primer type

* stain- I did Dark Walnut for mine

* cloth

* paint brushes

the first step was removing all of the seats from the chairs. this was super easy, and only required a screw driver. I was able to remove all of the seats and dispense of that horrible fabric in a matter of minutes.

as for the color of chair legs, I totally stole the idea from the tutorial on Pinterest. basically, what I did was spray paint each chair gray, and once that was dry, I painted on the stain. after the stain dried for about 20-30 minutes, I grabbed a cloth, and rub it off. it ends up leaving behind a weathered wood look that I absolutely love!

before:

after:

next came the beginning stages of my reupholstering!

for this, I purchased:

* full sized bed topper- this is so much cheaper than foam

* 1.5 yards of batting

* 2.5 yards of fabric (we chose a gorgeous cream linen, similar to the fabric on the Target chairs)

* spray adhesive

* covering buttons (we purchased these)

* nylon cording (we purchased this)

I am so angry at myself because I completely forgot to take pictures during the process. but I will explain it best I can!

first, I spread my mattress topper out on the ground, put each chair on top, and traced (with a sharpie) the outline of each chair's back and each disconnected seat. then, I cut out my pieces and with my spray adhesive I was able to attach each each piece of foam onto its coordinating seat, and all of the foam to each chair's back.

next up is the batting! I cut out the batting big enough to cover each seat and each back, with about a 1.5-2 inch allowance (this allowed me to wrap it around and staple it in back). once the batting is stapled on (it should be holding the foam in nice and tight), you're ready for fabric!

covering the chair with fabric is the exact same process as the batting- cut out your pieces in the same shape as your foam, but with a 1.5-2" allowance for stapling.  be sure that your fabric is as tight as you can get it- this will really pay off when you start tufting, as it looks so much better.

now you are on to tufting! before starting, I made all of my buttons. I had no idea how to do this, but this tutorial really helped, and button covering ended up being really fun!  like I had mentioned before, having the basket-weaved back on these chairs gave me the perfect stencil for spacing out my buttons and ensuring that it all lined up nicely.  if your chair doesn't have this, I would suggest a ruler and maybe even sticky notes to mark where you want to prick the fabric each time you thread a button through. tufting my first chair was honestly trial and error- after completing the chair, I realized that one of my rows of buttons was too high, so I cut the cord in back, and started over.

as you thread your buttons through, be sure to pull tight when tying them off in back. if you're using the wax cord that I linked above, this may cut up your hands a bit and make them quite raw. But it's all in the name of a successful dyi project!

once you're done with this step, be sure to get a good look at all your buttons- as this is your opportunity to fix any mistakes! ensure that you like the spacing of the buttons, the tightness of the tufts, or anything else that may look "off" to you. once you attach the backs onto the chairs, it will be very difficult to go back and correct anything.

and now onto the last step- the back! the easiest way to do this is finding a sturdy piece of cardboard, cutting it out in the exact same shape as the chair, covering it with fabric, and stapling it on!

quite the transformation, right?

kendrick and I are really happy with the way the chairs turned out and how they compliment our table. and the best part? it cost less than $100 to make all four.

ready to reupholster and tuft your own kitchen chairs?

the story of us

i'm kimberlee. i'm currently working as an executive assistant, where i get to daily exercise my love for organizing, creating spreadsheets, and being in control of schedules (yes, i am aware of how nerdy that sounds).  i love interior design, diy projects, binge watching on netflix, and having any excuse to throw a baby or bridal shower. i also have an irrational addiction to all things kate spade that i don't think can be tamed.

and this is kendrick. he is currently working as a medical research assistant and going to school, in hopes of working towards a career in the medical field. when his head isn't buried in books, kendrick loves playing the guitar, killing terrorists on his xbox, doing anything deemed "manly". and going to the movies (just so that he can get a large popcorn).

we were married on september 26th 2014 in the salt lake temple. the story of how we met is my favorite- as it's pretty much the story of pam and jim from "the office". i was the receptionist who had my eye on the cute guy in sales, and lucky for me, he had his eye on me too!

together, we love scary movie marathons, sushi date nights, weekend getaways to park city, traveling to new places, and devouring an unhealthy amount of buffalo wings. 

we keep this blog as a record of our life together, because we love it and want to remember it- every single part of it.

welcome!