I’ve always been a DIY kind of girl. I love to work with fabric and wood and drills and paint and anything else that I can get my hands on, to to embellish, improve and create new things.
I’m married to an awesome guy, who is pretty much totally DIY/handyman challenged – which is mostly a blessing.
It’s forced me to play decorator, gardener, handy-woman and Mrs Fix-It, all in one. And makes me feel pretty much like a superhero from time to time.
Earlier this summer he formulated a plan with our son to build out a whole bottom level to the kids treehouse, and make it like this super cool fort area. He kept saying “we’ll do this” and “we’ll do that” and I started to laugh a little… “Wow, so YOU are going frame it out, do the cut outs, and the flooring and everything??” and he was like “well, no, I’ll save that for you, I don’t want to take away your joy”.
Ha! So much for traditional gender roles in our house. 🙂
But he has lots of other super cool talents. Like having a freakishly photographic memory for sports statistics and he actually enjoys doing dishes. So its all good.
We are blessed with three awesome kids ages 8, 6 and 1.5. Here they are going Giddy-style for me…
(and yes, thats my 1 year old on the right, riding an American Girl doll horse. 🙂
I also have THREE dogs, including a 1 year old lab mix who we were fostering, and fell in love with. So he became ours as well.
So that means we have two 1 year olds, who are not exactly potty trained, and love to destroy the house.
Which gets me to a quick confession I need to make (sorry to go off tangent, but I just can’t let this one go…)
Do you ever look at some of the photos on Pinterest or other blogs, of picture perfectly decorated homes belonging to DIY or Mommy Bloggers, and then they are like “Oh yeah, and I have 7 kids”. Seriously??? Do your children not actually reside in your home?
Because I only have 3, and if my house looked that show-worthy all over, all the time, it would only be because of a full time maid staff following the kids around 24×7, picking up after them and preventing them from touching just about anything.
I’m hoping they are like me.
So I need to make this public confession and disclaimer, just so to be 100% real with y’all.
When you see a photo of a project that I’ve posted, it may look pretty clean and put together, but rest assured…. I have to bribe my kids with ice cream and a movie in the other room, in order to clear off just enough of the space as will fit in the window of the camera, and quickly snap a few immaculate looking shots, while the house behind me is likely falling to pieces.
I know, I know, there are people that manage to keep their home looking spotless all the time. They have immaculate houses and lots of gorgeous, probably breakable stuff, that they somehow train their children never to touch.
But for better or for worse, that is not my family.
Yes, there will be a time in my life (I HOPE), where my house might actually stay clean and beautiful on a regular basis.
But that time is not now.
Now is the time for silliness and play dough and making forts on the furniture and root beer floats half spilled on the floor.
And nothing decorative below 3 feet, lest it end up in the toilet/dogs water dish/oven/some random drawer or broken into a million pieces.
All that is to say, that if you think you have to be a picture perfect wife, or mom or decorator, in order to love what you do, and share it with the world – take it from me, you do not!!!
I’ve spent the last 10 years of my life building blogs and websites and marketing them online. It took me 10 years, before I started building and writing about my real love and passions.
Don’t make my mistake!
Its easier than you think to start a blog, and if you have a love for something – whether it be being a mom, or doing DIY/craft stuff, or golf or gardening or cooking – don’t wait! You don’t have to be perfect to share your love with the world, and actually be successful at it. Trust me. Want to give it a shot? Check out my 3 simple steps for starting a blog!
Anyhow, in the midst of the craziness that is my life, I do what I can, to make the (relatively) untouchable stuff, look kind of cool.
Its my getaway from the madness and the noise.
Using spray paint or stain or wood or glue or whatever else I can get my hands on, to upcycle, transform, repurpose or build things and give them new life, or a little more glam.
And pray that they stay looking that way, for more than 1 or two days in a row.
I have people who hear the name of my blog, and ask me if I was born in the south or the country.
It makes me giggle a little bit. (In my mind, its a giggle with a southern twang).
I was born in Louisiana, and lived there for about 6 months before moving to Colorado. I grew up in the suburbs of Denver before moving to the midwest for college.
So I wouldn’t really say I have much in the way of native southern heritage in me, but I really love just about all things rustic, and country, and farmhouse-y (is that a word?).
The music.
The decor.
The pace of life.
The sweet tea.
How cute just about anyone sounds when they say the word “y’all”.
And who doesn’t love cowboys!
Seriously, GIDDDDDY UP!! 🙂
So despite the fact that I am actually pretty severely allergic to horses, the name is a perfect fit for things I love – upcycling, with a little taste of the south from time to time. Or cowboys, whichever you prefer to let your mind wander to.
Giddy Upcycled is my way of sharing my hobby and my projects, as well as sharing inspiration from all of those much more talented people out there.
And it makes me happy.
Thanks for stopping by my little slice of heaven!
