So how in the world do you find the perfect lamp base... the perfect blue lamp base. If you are me, you stumble upon beautiful blue lamps (for under $25!) and immediately order two. Wait anxiously for your beautiful lamps to arrive.

Now this step is very important: open up the package when they arrive and be super disappointed when one is smashed to pieces. Become even more disappointed when you find out that they have zero left and can't send you a replacement.

It was really difficult to find other blue lamps for a reasonable price... almost impossible. Since we really needed the extra lighting in our living room I decided to take matters into my own hands. On Pinterest, I saw that you could paint small glasses and vases by swirling paint around the inside.

Enter IKEA.

They have big, clear, glass lamps with a big hole for the bottom. These beauties are pretty much screaming to be painted.

Before.

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I love cupcakes. 

My husband loves cupcakes. 

My parents love cupcakes. 

I blame my mother. She makes the most delicious white cupcakes with chocolate buttercream frosting. They are simple but are always super moist and have the perfect cupcake to icing ratio. Unfortunately, I cannot make cupcakes as good as my mom. To disguise my weakness, I like to make cupcakes with filling and pretty swirled tops. 

There are a lot of ways to get filling into a cupcake. You can buy a little tool that will hollow out the middle of the cupcake, use a knife and cut out the middle yourself, or you can buy this nifty little cupcake decorating kit from Wilton for $8 (or for $4 if you use a coupon.) The kit comes with 4 tips, one is long and designed to fill cupcakes. 

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I need to have Will take pictures of me... not in a mirror,

In my mind it is fall. I don't care that it is still in the nineties here in Austin... I am wearing boots. That is one of the big benefits of living in Austin. In Champaign you could only wear cute boots for a few weeks before the weather would turn all wet and slushy. Then you would switch to the more Ugg style boots to slosh through the snow. Now that we live in the land of virtually no rain or snow, I can wear cute boots all the time! I was feeling very Texan yesterday and this is the outfit that happened. The shirt that I am wearing was from a barn dance sophomore year. You can't tell from the picture but it is a small plaid print of pink and purple. I hadn't worn it since then until yesterday. I don't have cowgirl boots yet so my new tan pair of boots are the best I got. Now I just need a cowgirl hat and a big belt buckle. We will call this our "before" picture and see how my Texas style evolves over time.

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So while I was back in Bethalto last week I really wanted to update the downstairs bathroom in my parent's home. This use to be my sister's and my bathroom. At one point it was painted an almost neon yellow color. Then we switched it to a more muted color palate with a pop of red. Somewhere along the line we messed up and took a shower too soon after we painted and ended up with streak marks in the paint. Since Amanda and I no longer live at home and this is the third bathroom in the house, it was feeling a little neglected.

It is amazing what a little bit of paint can do for a room. Mom and I painted the bathroom a light tan color and painted the vanity black. Amazing!

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I had the opportunity to spend last week at home in Bethalto. When the trip was finalized the first thing I did was make a list of all of the food that I wanted to eat. Even though Austin has some great restaurants, you just can't beat the food you grew up with. Here are the food highlights of the trip.

I got in late on Sunday night, just in time to go to the carnival on Monday with the family. We only go to the carnival for one reason: to eat. And eat we did.

Pork burger

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