Introducing Dr. Jocelyn!!!

Last weekend, we got to be there to celebrate Jocelyn's graduation from DMU as a Doctor of Physical Therapy! It seems like not too long ago we were celebrating her graduation from undergrad and she was talking about starting PT school in Des Moines, and now she's done already and going to be starting her job in the real world and make some money!!!

I'm so happy that Trent and I got to be a small part of her journey as she lived with us for the past 8 weeks during her final internship, while she talked about graduating and finding a job, and I'm glad we got to be some of the first people to hear that she was offered and accepted her job!! And we are SOO happy that she's going to be staying and working in Omaha now! Score for us!
(Mission "keep Joce in Omaha" accomplished!!)

On Saturday morning, we showed up to Hy Vee Hall in Downtown Des Moines to watch her walk across the stage and get hooded as Dr. Jocelyn Marie Kock! Sitting through the 2 and a half hour ceremony was totally worth it to be a part of that specialness! 

Joce's official name announcement card!

Joce and I before the ceremony

Joce preparing to walk across the stage

Getting hooded!

Woot woot!!

 After the ceremony, we had a little photo sesh, of course!

We're so proud!! :D

With her parents

With her grandparents and parents

Grandma and Grandpa Kock were proud, too!!

Joce and my mom

Another picture. Even though I kind of look scared in this one!

After the ceremony, all of her family met up to celebrate with some lunch and presents and hanging out (and by hanging out, I mean watching "Miracle" on the big screen in her apartment building's theater room).

Joce lookin' good with her cake!

The cake maker and the graduate!

This guy! :)

Everyone relaxing and hanging out

Grandma made the cake extra special this time with two colored layers!

Introducing Dr. Josel!

Too much fun!! :)

Congrats to Jocelyn! We can't wait to see what the next chapter of your life brings!

And just for fun, here's my corny compilation of the videos I got from the day. My phone stopped recording RIGHT after she got hooded, so I decided to do what I could with what I had :) (Sorry if you get sick from all the shaking!)

Guest Bedroom: Before and After

And finally! Here are the pictures of the whole guest bedroom... 

Pretty sad that it took me over 2 months to get all this posted... :)

We still need to get curtains up and I am eventually going to change out some of the bedding, but what we had worked with the time frame and the budget I was working with.

I also painted the closet the same coral color as the dresser. It looks a little more pink than the dresser does in this picture, but I promise it's the same!

Dresser: From my mom's house. Painted with DIY Chalk Paint

Night Stands: From Thrift Store. Painted with DIY Chalk Paint

Head Board: From Nebraska Furniture Mart, June 2010. Painted with DIY Chalk Paint

Pictures: Frames from Michael's. Pictures from Etsy shop, Antinoro Pixel Prints

Lamps: From Goodwill. Spray Painted with Glossy Rustoleum Spray Paint in Navy

Molly and Derrick's Weddding

My cousin, Molly, and Derrick have been married for a week and a half now and it was great that we all got to share in the joyous festivities with them! 

Molly was a BEAUTIFUL bride and we had a lot of fun! Here are some of my favorite pictures from the day!

I had to start with these fun pictures from the photo booth at the reception. We conveniently sat close to the booth, so when there wasn't a line, we'd hop right in!

(click to enlarge)

Mi madre playing the piano for the ceremony.

The beautiful bride after coming down the aisle! I loved her dress and veil so much, so I had to put this picture in here!!

Some pictures from when they were exiting the church. These pictures make me smile!!

After the wedding party took off in their limo to take some pictures, we had the opportunity to take some pictures with Grandma and Grandpa Jons too.

And then the reception started! They had a great popcorn bar and photobooth (as you saw above!). The DJ, food, and the cupcakes were wonderful as well!

Making their entrance into the reception

Jared and Kenzie at the reception

We took some pictures of all our family that was there too. Turned out pretty good! :)

It was a fun night full of dancing and pictures and food and fun! It's so awesome to see Molly and Derrick so happy and in love and I wish them all the best! 

I'll end with a few other random pictures from the event!

And THIS gem of a picture that will always make me smile! :)

Guest Bedroom: Glossy Spray Painted Lamps

My last project for the guest bedroom was painting some lamps. The ones that I had in there were small and skinny, so I knew that I wanted two matching lamps that were bigger than what I had. I didn't want to spend a bunch on them, though.

Luckily, I found some lamps that matched at Goodwill for only $10 a piece. They didn't have any lamp shades on them, but I figured that I'd probably want to replace the shades that came on them anyway, so that was fine with me.

They really weren't much to look at the way they were, but if I've learned anything from the blogs I read, it's that if you find two matching lamps that work, buy them! So I did!

After committing to buy them and starting to walk from the back of the store to the front where the checkout was, I had three different people tell me that I had found some beautiful lamps! After the third person said that, I started to feel kind of guilty for wanting to paint them ... but that only lasted a second or two... I found them first :)

I decided to paint them with a navy blue, glossy spray paint, and after I realized that I could separate the bases from the body of the lamps, I decided that I would paint the bases a brushed nickle color.

I started by taping off the part of the cord that was showing and the part where the light bulb goes in with a grocery sack and blue painters tape. I then primed the lamp and base with a gray primer. I figured this would help the glossy paint stick to the glass on the body of the lamp better.

I think I did two or three coats of the primer and then, after letting it dry for a while, I painted the base with the brushed nickel color a few times. When I was sure that was dry, I covered the bases with a plastic sack and started painting the body of the lamps. It needed a few coats, and it was during this process that I really messed up. 

I did one or two coats on a Saturday night and then, after church on Sunday, I decided that I would do one final coat and be done with it. Turns out that it was a super windy day and it was a bad idea to leave lamps with wet paint out in the driveway! They ended up with flecks of dirt and gray paint flakes that had come off my tarps in the wind... Major fail!

So, the next night, I had to sand them down and try it again! This resulted in some far from perfect lamps (as it goes with many of my projects) but I just tried to turn them so the imperfect parts were facing the wall in the bedroom. Problem solved :)

I had found some lamp shades at Target that I thought worked well, so that's what I used to finish them up.

Here's what they look like now!

Other Guest Bedroom Projects:

DIY Chalk Paint - Headboard and Night Stands

DIY Chalk Paint - Coral Dresser
DIY Drawer Liners from Wrapping Paper

Mallory's Bachelorette Party Weekend!

Last weekend was one of my favorite people, Mallory's, bachelorette party. She had 16 of her friends there to help celebrate with her as she prepares for her upcoming wedding and we had such a fun time!

We all met up on Saturday afternoon at The Social Canvas to do a little painting. The painting of the day was Van Gogh's Starry Night, so everyone painted that. Everyone but me, that is! I decided that I didn't think mine would look that great and I probably wouldn't end up hanging it anywhere, so I was going to try to make something that I would actually display somewhere. I went with an American flag and tried to replicate one that they had displaying on the wall. It started out all fine and dandy, but then my white and red got mixed together on my canvas and it turned a gross pink color, so I was kind of disappointed. I've never tried to pretend that I was artistic at all, though, so I guess I shouldn't be so hard on myself!

I left with a canvas painted red with the blue square in the top left corner with some dots that are supposed to be stars and, with the help of some suggestions from my friends, I decided that I'd use a white Sharpie to write some lyrics of some "America" song on it as the stripes after I got it home. So, if it's worth sharing when I'm done, I'll share how it turns out! :)

After everyone was done painting, we all went back to the hotel to get ready for the evening. We gathered in one room to hang out for a while and have some snacks and drinks and Mallory opened her gifts. She definitely got some fun and creative things that were perfect for her as the bachelorette!

Before we left, Lauren, Bailey and I had to take our traditional picture :)

For supper we went to Monterrey Mexican  Restaurant (Mallory's favorite) and then went out to a few places and had some drinks and danced and just hung out. It was great to be able to hang out with some of my favorite people and make some new friends as well!

When we got tired (because we're old), we went back to the hotel and got in some comfy clothes, had some snacks, and just talked and hung out for a while longer. 

On Sunday morning, some people took off for home, but most of us made a stop in Panorama for a bridal shower for Mallory. These few hours were another great example of the awesome person that Mallory is. She is always smiling and making people laugh and she is so thoughtful and kind. So many people love her and want the best for her and it's not hard to tell why!

Here are just a few of the moments that I was able to catch on Sunday. It is a nice collection of "The Faces of Mallory."

It was such a great weekend that was dedicated to Mallory! I wish her and Bob the absolute best and I know they'll have a happy and awesome life together!