College Nationals 2016

I have been completely exhausted after this past weekend. I took a nap on Monday afternoon for 3 hours and then fell asleep on Tuesday afternoon for another couple hours. College nationals wiped me out!

Jay arrived on Thursday evening and Mom and Dad came in Friday morning. Games started at 2:30 on Friday afternoon but we arrived a little early to eat lunch, check out the facilities, and lock down good seats for Wilmington's first game. While we were there we also stopped by the Triangle Ultimate tent to see my new banner!

The weekend did not turn out quite like we were all hoping for. Wilmington got a bit of a slow start and they weren't able to recover and make it into bracket play. It was disappointing for Jack and really hard to see him so upset. That being said, it's an honor to even make it to nationals and Jack still played like the rockstar he is. Check out this ridiculous catch. In true Jack form he was making plays like this all weekend long. 

It was very fun to be able to watch the games with friends and family all weekend. I loved having a huge crowd there cheering on Jack and his team.

I was able to test out my new camera while at the games and was very pleased with the quality of the pictures. I took over 300 so I'll put only a select few on here.

On Sunday we were able to celebrate Adnan's birthday and have some quality family time minus Jack. We signed up for an escape room and it was the cherry on top of a disappointing weekend. We didn't escape in time. It was still fun though and Adnan's first escape room!

Birthday cake for all!

Memorial day was a fabulous weekend! It was awesome having the whole family in town. I know nationals didn't go the way we were hoping but these are the best of the best. Wilmington played so well but it wasn't their weekend. These other teams were just a bit more in sync this weekend. Jack always makes us proud and gives 100% all of the time. He's impressive to watch and we're looking forward to watching him on big stages in the future!

College Nationals Begins!

It's the first day of college nationals!! I'm so excited! The whole family is coming into town today and Jack's first game is at 2:30. We've been anticipating this for almost a year when we found out nationals was going to be in Raleigh for the first time. Jack's team is the 3rd seed overall and the games are going to be epic!

Jack's first game today will be lives streamed at 2:30 here: http://ultiworld.com/live/

You can keep up with his scores and schedules here: http://play.usaultimate.org/events/USA-Ultimate-D-I-College-Championships-2016/schedule/Men/College-Men/

Today and tomorrow is pool play and then after that it's win or die.

Go Jack Go USA Wilmington!

Dresser Make Over

This is a big week! I'm in full preparation mode for nationals this weekend, getting my work squared away and the house ready for family to stay for 5 days. I'll post tomorrow with nationals details for anyone that wants to keep up with Jack's team. 

I've gotten in a crafty mood recently and I finally turned my eyes to this dresser that I've had for.....a year?? I think? It was a free curbside find and it has sat in our foyer in the same curbside condition ever since. It's been good for dining room storage but I doubt it will stay here forever. It's a bit too big for the space. That being said...it will likely stay here for another year before I figure out where it's going to go.

I decided to try my hand at chalk paint. I've heard all about this Annie Sloan chalk paint. The problem is it's hard to find and it's kind of expensive. I found a boutique in apex that carried it but when I got there the store had moved to north Raleigh. I decided I wasn't making that trek so that's how I landed on a new Valspar version that is being sold at Lowes. 

It had mixed reviews. The Annie Sloan die-hards didn't like it but other people who were trying to be unbiased seem to think it was OK and worth a shot. I decided to go for all black.....not my typical paint go-to, but I want to do super fun gold/brass handles.

So, the first thing you have to do is clean the dresser. This was gross. Note to self....clean anything you find on the side of the road BEFORE bringing it into the house. Not a year later. 

There were two pretty big chips that needed to be filled in with wood putty before starting. 

Wood putty and sanding got it good enough for me.

The real appeal of this paint for me is the lack of required prep work. No sanding or priming required which sounded amazing! I don't like sanding and priming is boring so if I could cut that step out and still get it to look amazing then I was all for it.

The paint was pretty easy to work with. It took two coats to get good coverage. It dries in a super matte finish...very much like a chalk board. Once it's painted it's time to apply the wax. This is where it got weird. I wish I had read about the waxing before I with with Valspar. I looked online to find out how long I should wait before waxing. There were a lot of complaints that the wax STRIPPED the paint off. Seriously. I just spent all afternoon putting on two coats of paint and this finishing wax was about to strip it all off? The valspar reps claimed user error and said you need to let the paint cure for 24 hours before waxing it.

So, 24 hours later I cautiously applied a super thin coat of wax. With the Annie Sloan paint you put on the wax and buff it off. With the Valspar you put the wax on super thin and gently wipe it away. No buffing. I found this to be super tedious. If I rubbed too hard it stripped the paint. It's like the wax softens the paint. Crosby hairs would get stuck in the wax and if I used a finger nail to get the hair out the paint came off. If I rubbed to hard or too fast with the cloth, the paint came off. Super annoying.

I did get into a rhythm and it turned out OK but the finish is still super matte and it still leaves white streaks if someone touches it or puts something on it.

They wipe right off but I'm still not convinced. I might try another coat of wax or I might just poly it even though the wax it supposed to do the trick.

I feel like this picture doesn't really do it justice. Justice is the wrong word because it doesn't really deserve a lot of justice at this point, but it doesn't represent it well. I'm hoping a coat of poly and some slick new handles will be a game changer. As for the paint....I'll give Annie Sloan chalk paint a try but Valspar didn't win me over with this go around.

As for handles, I'm thinking something long, like these.

 What do you think?

New Camera

Derrick and I got a new camera! Derrick got me a really nice point and shoot about three years ago and I wore it down. It had been dropped and banged around and generally used to death. While on my bike trip with Jay it officially bit the dust so I looked into making an investment in a nice camera. We wanted something that would last a long time, take really nice photos, easy to use, and be an upgrade for my real estate photos. We landed on the Canon Rebel T5 and it came in one day early on Monday!

It was sitting on the front porch when I got home from picking Leanna, Kevin, and Ellie up from the airport so Ellie was my first muse.

The only toy we have at our house is a toy tool box and tools. Go figure.

 

In general Crosby has been our test subject though as we've been figuring out all of the settings.

Derrick is the worst.  In the best way.....but seriously. I was practicing with the camera and getting shots like this.

Derrick picked it up...tried to take a picture but had to stop because he didn't know where the clicker was....then pulls this out!

That is the exact same time of day! His looks professional....or course. First try.

We've been having fun with it but I think Crosby is over it and ready for us to try our skills on something or someone else.

Classic Crosby wink caught on camera. This happens multiple times a day.

So far I'm loving it! The pictures look great and the camera is pretty easy to use. I'm excited to test out the sports mode at nationals next weekend. We tried it in the house and this is what we got.

Clearly there is room for improvement.