Day of the Dead Graffiti Art (Finished!)

Hello Everyone. Welcome to Day Two of Finishing Week.

Whew. Finishing stuff is hard. That might be why I set some of these projects aside in the first place.

Here's one of my half done projects, it turns out I quit the old version because it just wasn't me. As soon as I took it in a new direction BOOM - it was done. The frame section is inspired by a project I saw by Alisa Burke in a Somerset Workshop last winter with a dash of Crafty Chica for good measure.

I also painted, decoupaged and glittered my third sci-fi bar stool. The project floundered because JoAnn ran out of the suede fringe I was using. So I bit the bullet (after a year of waiting) and picked a new trim. Last night I was adding the new fringe - the last step - and this happened:

How? I do not know. My guess is the mean gossiping lady didn't measure very well. So I'll be breaking my "Finish, don't shop" rule and picking up some more trim.

I also finished getting my hair back to red. Three weeks ago I bleached the black out and dyed it red, but it was a soft, pale-ish, not-very-me red. I wanted RED-RED. So, here I am:

This was taken in the evening so the brightness doesn't show, in full-sun it's pretty awesome.

My ridiculously talented friend (I don't know why she still likes me, seriously) Jenna has been finishing stuff this week too and I have to show you this amazing dresser she restyled:

And the room she finished (isn't Gracie just the cutest!):

You can read more about what Jenna is up to HERE.

I can't wait to hear what you all are finishing - dig in and cross something off that lingering to-do list. My DH says that "open loops" cause stress, so do yourself a favor and close a loop!

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On a personal note, one year ago today we decided to take our finances seriously. Since then, we've paid off our car loan, Visa bill, second mortgage and more. In addition to that, we've almost got three months of our six month emergency fun saved. Woo-hoo. What struck us profoundly is how different we are as a family from who we were a year ago. This weekend our date was one of the best ever; we played crib on the front porch while drinking wine, listening to music and watching the sun slip down behind the mountains. It was AWESOME! A year ago, AWESOME would have required an overnight at an expensive hotel, a fancy dinner, a new dress... no wonder we were in debt. I still feel like a total dork pulling out my food envelope to pay for groceries and deciding if we can buy a pizza based on the thickness of the "Family Fun" envelope; but this is good for us. And the dorky feeling is just the "pinch" I need to keep my focus where it needs to be.

Also, last week I devoted a huge amount of time to making a six week menu based on what we had on hand, shopping for what we didn't and pre-cooking as much of it as possible. For about seven hours of effort, I don't have to think about dinner beyond making a pot of rice until after Labor Day. Score! It's been seven days on the new plan and we all love it. I'm not sure I'll ever go back to two-weeks of menus and cooking. In the evening I open my cupboard door and look at my menu. Then I pull whatever is needed out of the freezer. Chris and the boys love knowing what we're going to have and anticipating their favorites. The time-savings is already making an impact on my schedule. Yay!