Avondale: My Lovely Neighborhood

Avondale is constantly growing and expanding and it has been such a joy to watch the progress on a daily basis as a native Avondale resident. In the last week I have visited two new businesses that have opened: Boxcar Vape and MELT. 

The former is a patriotic themed vape lounge fit with board games and a video game and sports watching setup. The latter is a gourmet grilled cheese themed restaurant with ties to Birmingham's well respected Ocean and 26 restaurants. Both spaces lived up to my hopeful expectations and I definitely plan on frequenting both in the future!

These outings were also the perfect way for me to play around with my new camera!

World Cup fans hanging out during the grand opening.

American flag mural that I believe was created by the fabulous Bo Hughins

Menu of vape favors "on tap" that you can try out.

MELT has a fun cocktail menu too. Their Bloody Mary comes with a Habanero jack cheese and bacon garnish.

Fully loaded fries (with BBQ pulled pork, cheese, and grilled smoky jalapeños).

House made condiments...yummy.

The delicious Ham and Swiss grilled cheese with Honey Lavendar butter!

Birthday Extravaganza!

This year I celebrated 32 years around the sun!  I decided to celebrate it with my dear friend Kristi who has a birthday the week after me.  We met friend out for a lovely Indian dinner and then headed back to "Owl Manor" (my house) for fun times with friends!  My musician friend Derek came over after a gig and brought in his awesome accordion.  I couldn't help myself!

Kristi and I blowing out the candles

Tiaras and bindis for these birthday girls!

Southern Snow!

This is proving to be an abnormal winter for those of us way down in the Deep South!  We usually get snow every few years, and very light snow at that.  This snowstorm resulted in teachers and students stranded at school, abandoned cars all over the streets, and lots of warm couch time!

 So white, so pretty!

Annual Holiday Shindig

Alex showing off her Kermit Muppet News Coffee Mug that she acquired during "dirty santa."

All the Mouyal girls except Ellie (from left: Sarah, Hannah, Me-Lindsay, Annie)

Liz and her portrait hat

Daniel and Liz admiring the ridiculous dolphin lamp!

Liz pose!

Closet Makeover

 I got into an organizational frenzy and couldn't take any more of my messy closet.  So, I went to the Dollar Tree and picked up these cheap plastic bins, organized everything, attached duct tape and used sharpie to label them.  Feels so good!

New Kitchen Rug

I picked up a super fun woven rug at the thrifty today. It is brand new, never used, tags still attached. They actually had a bunch of them in different colors and sizes. I was tempted to pick up several, but I resisted the urge! If you live in the Birmingham area and want one of your own, go down to the Mission Possible thrift store in Irondale.

I am excited too because all of the rugs I had previously used in front of my kitchen sink weren't washer/dryer compatible. Therefore, they would just get nasty and end up in the trash. I have been without for a while because I hadn't found any I liked and Luna has been sad about it too. She usually goes straight to the kitchen rug for her morning stretches. As soon as I put this one down, she ran straight to it. It looks like they are getting along (rug and dog that is). I think they are both adorable!

OWL appetizer plates

My stepbrother and his wife (Brian and Beth) got me these super cute owl appetizer plates for Christmas. They are made by a company named "tag." I love them! Can't wait to put them to good use! Hoot!

New Anthro Quilt!

Anthropologie makes the most lusciously soft and comforting quilts! They are amazing...they magically keep you cool in the summer and warm in the winter. I also love how they are larger than most comforters and cover more space. They also hardly ever fall off of the bed in the middle of the night like other quilts and comforters I've had are want to do. I also love how they are all double sided, so if you get a little bored at one point, you can just flip it over!

Being that they are so wonderful and magical, they come at a high price...usually selling at around $200 for a Queen. Last year, I bought one on sale for $100 and loved it. However, the dry cleaners recently ruined it and I had to return it. The sad news was they has discontinued the one I had. Good news, I found a new one on sale for $75 with a funky peacock on the front! It is making its way to me in the shipping realm as we speak. I can't wait for it to adorn my bed and bring me slumbering dreams aplenty!

If you are in love and want to get one of your own, it is called the "Pavo" quilt...go to Anthropologie's website here!

Cuckoo for Cute Clocks!

I love cuckoo clocks. A few years ago my dad got me one of my very own for Christmas. I loved it, but sadly it fell off of the wall last year and shattered into a million tiny pieces. I was very upset about it.

On my recent beach trip, I found a cuckoo inspired clock that was so adorable, I couldn't pass it up. It doesn't actually cuckoo, but it does have a window that opens with a dancing bird inside. Aren't the squirrels and mushrooms too cute? It was made by Allen Designs Studio. The artist has an etsy shop here. Check out the shop, lots of cute stuff!

Chill It!

We are leaving for the beach tomorrow, and I couldn't be more excited! I was looking through Rachel Ray's magazine a couple of weeks ago and came across this must have "chill it" bag that holds 6 drinks. Too often I show up at a friend's place for a get together and there is no room in the fridge for my beer because it is already full. So, my poor 6-pack is left all by itself on the counter to become warm an unappetizing. Gross! No, more! Now, I can chill it in my bag and just leave it on the counter. They come in green and blue. I ordered one of each. I will be trying them out for the first time on our beach trip. I ordered it from this nifty website mxyplyzyk. (It also comes in a taller thinner design; suitable for toting chilled wine). Check out their website, they have lots of great gift ideas and whimsical tid-bits.

Yard Sale Time!

Here are a few pics from our yard sale party we had recently. Much fun! There were about 6 people selling stuff and we donated the rest to charity (which was great, because it kept our homes from collecting unwanted clutter junk stuffs). The best part of course was having an excuse to hang out with good friends and eat good food! We grilled burgers and hotdogs in the backyard and I made a yummy potato salad to go with it. Fun times!

Kitchen Island

My kitchen is big considering my house was built in 1933. The only bad part is that there is very little counter space. My handy friend Brady has recently started working in poured concrete. He built me a beautiful island to go front in center in my kitchen. He welded the base out of iron and poured the top out of concrete. Instead of using pebbles as an aggregate in the concrete top, we collected 37 pounds of glass, busted it all up and let it figure out where it wanted to stay. There are a couple of big pieces on top and a lot of tiny ones around the edges and throughout. My favorite is a triangular piece of light blue glass on top. Don't my little owl buddy cookie jars and salt/pepper shakers look right at home? I am loving it! Function, meet form!

Kitchen Cabinet Re-do

This weekend, my boyfriend and I turned a cluttered and non user-friendly kitchen cabinet into an organizational freak's dream cabinet. I bought two of these elfa slide out kitchen cabinet basket/drawers from "the container store" and was able to get them on sale. Woot!

Go the container store's website and check out all of their wonderful products! They make me swoon! Right now they are having a sale on office organizational stuffs.

The Spice Project

I cook...alot! I love it. However, my dilapidated lazy-susan spice rack (shoved into a tiny cabinet) was not cutting it. So, I picked up some of those nifty magnetic spice tins at World Market and voila! Happiness! I already had my homemade chalkboard hanging by my oven, so I put them on there and labeled them with colorful chalk. So organized! So fabulous!