My Camping Essentials

With the holiday weekend approaching, I'm sure some of you are planning your last camping trip for the summer. Luckily we live in San Diego so we can pretty much camp all year long. Our first camping trip together was Memorial day weekend. We had absolutely no camping supplies, in fact all of our possessions were still in commercial storage from our move to San Diego. {mine are still in storage, which is why I haven't had too many crafty posts lately} With the holiday weekend we were lucky enough to find almost everything on sale at Big 5 {weekly adds found here}, everything else we purchased cheaper somewhere else. Camping is not a cheap vacation, as my husband keeps saying!

CAMP SITE

 

OUR SUPPLIES

Tent- Walmart {here}

Tarp for under the tent- Flea Market

2 sleeping bags- Big 5

Queen Air mattress with pump{yes, I am that kind of camper}- Walmart {similar here with no pump}

Two fold-up chairs- Big 5

Propane grill- Big 5

Table cloth- Exchange

Rake- Hardware store in Julian

Ice chest- we bought one with wheels, but it doesn't have a drain and is not quite big enough- Big 5

Lantern flashlight- Big 5

Folding shovel- Exchange {similiar here}

I ALWAYS PACK

Bug spray and Raid- our camp was infested with red ants

TP

Paper towels

Lighter

Paper plates

Plastic utensils

Trash bags- Lake Henshaw has a trash cans at each site and someone to empty them and replace the trash bags daily

Soap- dish and shower

Cards and trivial pursuit

Marshmallows, Hershey's and Graham Crackers for smores- if you don't want to roast them you can wrap them in foil and put them on the grill, this tip is thanks to Hershey's Smore Suite at Blogher11

THINGS WE BOUGHT FOR OUR NEXT TRIP

Lantern- Exchange

Small broom to sweep out the tent- Exchange

Bucket to empty coals from fire pit- Kmart

Retractable forks for roasting marshmallows- smores are a must on any camping trip- Kmart

2nd Ice Chest- Kmart

2 bath towels {yes, I forgot towels for the showers}Kmart

First-aid kit- Kmart

My husband had Friday off so we headed out early Friday morning to Lake Henshaw, they are first come first serve and do not take reservations so we wanted to make sure we got a spot. Luckily when we got there no one was there, we went back for fourth of July and by mid day Saturday they were sold out. They have a little general store, which is surprisingly not overpriced and a BBQ restaurant. The lake is across the street from the campground. The store rents small boats for $30 a day and you can fish in the lake, unfortunately there is no swimming in it since it's used for drinking water. The campground has a pool, but was super crowded on the Fourth of July.

CAMP GROUND

OUR VIEW

BB <3 CAMPING TOO

OUR AWESOME FIRE
I hate campgrounds who don't allow fires

SANTA YSABEL INDIAN CASINO
it's called resort and casino, but from what I can tell there is no resort just a small casino. 

My husband is working all weekend again so no camping for us. We are also having several command fundraisers this weekend so hopefully we can spend some time together since I haven't seen him much lately {more on that later}

I hope everyone has a great holiday weekend!

XOXO,

Annie

Furniture Revamp: Coffee Table

I found this great little coffee table a few months back at my favorite place, the Alameda Antique Faire {seen here, here and here} Not only was the price right {$30}, but it had that Asian inspired feel that I was looking for. Both my husband and I have spent quite a lot of time in Asian countries, as a result we have tons of pictures and trinkets form our travels that we will showcase in our living room, you know once we get one! {If you don't know we have just PCS'd back to San Diego and are temporarily, I hope, living in a small apartment. As a result all of our stuff, that didn't fit into my car, is still in storage} For the price of course this piece had some flaws, but ones I knew that I could fix.

BEFORE

Here is how to easily re-do a piece of wood furniture

(as seen here)

1. Lightly sand the top, you want to get the gloss and any blemishes off, but do not want to break through the veneer. If you sand through the top layer it is a pain and expensive to replace the entire top so be careful! In a pinch you can always mod podge something over the part you sand through- yes I am speaking from experience! My mom made that mistake years ago, so now it is one I am trying not to make. Then use a tack cloth or slightly damp rag to remove the sanding dust. I like to use tack cloth, but a damp rag will do the trick and is a cheaper alternative.

2. Now it is time to stain! For those of you who don't have 40 different stains in your shed {like we do} this is where you'd hit the hardware store.  There are many many stains to choose from so one is bound to work, if not you can always mix them like I did. First I used a layer of Mahogany. It came out a little too red so I did a light layer of Black stain over the Mahogany. Then let this fully dry before moving on to the next step.

 Mahogany

After adding black

3. I lacquered the top with two coats of Verathane brand gloss polyurethane. Sorry for the glare in the picture! You can at least see that I was able to remove the black marks and scrapes.

AFTER

4. To fix some of the nicks and imperfections in the rest of the table I used this old can of Restor-A-Finish. My Mom has been using this for years and it works great. Just apply with some steel wool according to the directions and wipe with a clean soft cloth and it looks like you've re-done the whole table. I highly recommend this product, but I don't recommend getting it on your shirt like I did!

before

After

In case you do sand through the veneer, then you can just decoupage a little something over your mistake- like my mom did on this little end table. I think it is adorable and had no idea that it wasn't done on purpose!!

Project Total

Coffee Table $30 

Sandpaper  $0 {already had some in the shed}

Tack Cloth $2.68 for 3{Home Depot}

Mahogany and black stain $0 {already had some in the shed}

Verathane brand gloss polyurethane $0 {already had a can in the shed, $14.98 a quart at Home Depot, which latest for several projects}

Restor-A-Finish & Steel Wool $0 {already had some in shed, $8.78 at Home Depot}

XOXO,

Annie

Chili Beach Day

The family- the Husband, our little one BB and myself- went for a walk in Southern Imperial Beach. If you don't know where Imperial beach is, it's the most southwesterly city in the continental United States. Basically it is just North of Tijuana. I love it here in Imperial Beach, it is a beautiful little beach community. There are plenty of walking and hiking trails, including the Tijuana Estuary {we took a hike there too, post to come}. 

The pier is a great spot for fishing and the restaurant at the end of the pier has amazing fish and chips and clam chowder

While there is a lot to do in Imperial Beach, currently swimming is not one of them.  The beach is beautiful, but the water is so polluted that they have signs advising you not to swim in the water. On a hot day, it doesn't seem to deter too many people.

When we got home my husband made some delicious Chili.

XOXO,

Annie

Staycation Day Two: Blogher11 Mil-Bloggers

You may be sick of hearing about Blogher11 by now, but it was so amazing I can't stop talking about it. FYI Blogher12 is in New York, I hope to see you all there! 

My time at Blogher wasn't only spent grabbing swag, although I'm not going to lie I did a lot of that. I also attended some panels and a Birds of a Feather group- where people who have like minded blogs can meet. Since I am a military wife, it was only natural that I attend the Milblog Bird of a Feather. I'm such a newbie to blogging and being a military wife I had never even heard of Milbloggers, did you know they have an entire convention for Milbloggers? 

Day 2, MilBloggers- I was fortunate enough to meet and outstanding group of women, seriously they are all amazing! As a newer military wife in a new duty station I don't really know many military wives, so this was a great opportunity to learn from women who have been there and done that so to speak. We came together from different branches of service and all across the ranks to share our stories with one another.  

Military Wives Roll Call

Back row from left to right:

- Kristen {and her friend/business partner Tiffany, front row holding the lil princess} their blog is aurorababies.blogspot.com, they also have a webstore: http://www.aurorababies.com. 

- Kristina from mytravelingtroop.com

- Stephanie, lawyermama.com from bluestarfam.org

-April from marineparents-blog.com and her etsy shop is Taprilcrosier.etsy.com {her store has super cute beaded teething necklaces, which her and Amber from Goodnight-moon.org are wearing}

- Erica from guidetomilitarytravel.com and travelswithsam.com

- Me, Annie from navywifediary.com

- Shannon from Sassylemonade.com {I just bought an anchor necklace form her shop which I love, expect to see it often!}

- Stephanie of k12.com

Front row from left to right:

-Jayne from meateatingmilitaryman.com, 

-Claire, The Half Hearted Housewife Halfheartedhousewife.com

-Molly, Yumamom.com from Bluestarfam.org

- Janelle,  Rellasbellas.com, etsy store rellasbellas.etsy.com {she is wearing my favorite item from her shop, her fabric rosette necklace}

-Tiffany from aurorababies.blogspot.com, webstore: http://www.aurorababies.com {they have some amazing and green products for your baby, if you know me at all you know I know nothing about babies or children so I can't really be much help here!}

-Amber from Goodnight-moon.org

This was by far the highlight of the convention for me. I know I met some amazing women, who I hope to know for a long time.  Please check out their blogs and Etsy shops ;)

Of course there was some swag grabbing, this is just from one day
{yes, the bags are completely full and so is my tote bag, seen here}

I got to try out and learn about some great new products

Skinny Cow now makes candy, yum!

Post-it has some super cute new dispensers

Dr. Scholl's makes shoes and they look comfy, I'm already a big fan of fast flats {as seen here} and my husband who is on his feet 18 hours a day just put some gel insoles in his boots and is already loving them! 

Chapstick has a new flavor- green apple, I'm still a cherry girl ;)

You may be wondering what do you do with all that unwanted swag? Well, I didn't actually have any, I can find a use for anything, but If I did I could have taken my unwanted products to the swag exchange. Where you leave what you don't want and take what you do. At the end of the convention the rest was donated or recycled- what an amazing and green thing to do! 

inevitably there was also some more silliness with

 Ambers from Amber's Notebook!

XOXO,

Annie

GIVEAWAY: Mommy and Me Pack

It's time for me to share some of my Blogher11 swag with you! 

Here is my Mommy and Me Pack, with stuff for the kids and somethings for mommy too!

Contents of the Mommy and Me Pack

Happy Meal toys and coupons courtesy of McDonald's

Big Air Dare Movie and Muddy Chuck the Dump Truck toy courtesy of Hasbro

Sprout coloring book and star crayon courtesy of SproutOnline.com

Sesame Street- Bert and Ernie & Oscar and Elmo toys Courtesy of Playskool

RoseArt Crayons and Colored Pencils courtesy of Mega

First Aid Kit, tissue pack, and pen courtesy of Minute Clinic 

Phineas and Ferb Band-Aids courtesy of Johnson & Johnson

Dole Fruit Bites, Kids Cook book, Easy Everyday Fruit Recipe book, and coupons for FREE products courtesy of Dole

Lunchbox courtesy of Hershey's 

Two bracelets courtesy of Women’s Leadership Forum (WOLF), Bestbuy

Brownie pops courtesy of Sharis Berries
and a ton of coupons courtesy of YoCrunch, Ella's Kitchen, Pinesol, Egg Land's Best, Bailey's Cofee Creamers, and Command

There are four ways you can enter to win:

        1.     Become a follower of my blog and leave a comment.  {if you are already a follower just leave a comment}

        2.     Become a follower on Twitter {@navywifediary}, and Tweet about my giveaway {be sure to include @navywifediary as well as the link to my post} Don't forget to come back and leave a comment that you sent out a tweet. 

        

        3.    Become a fan of Confessions of a Navy Wife on Facebook {Facebook.com/navywifediary} and leave a comment stating this.

        4.    Mention this giveaway on your blog with the corresponding giveaway link {here}, then leave a comment in this thread with the link to your blog post.

 * Please leave additional comments for all additional entries, to make sure they can be counted as more than one entry. 

You have until Midnight PST on Wednesday, August 31, 2011.

Winner will be picked at Random.

Good Luck!


Don't worry non-mommies, I have more Blogher11 swag packs coming later this week and next!

XOXO,

Annie

Blogher11: iFabbo Glamour Suite at Robert Cromean

The first day of my Blogher11 Staycation was outstanding. My good friend Amber from Amber's Notebook flew in and we immediately headed to our hotel downtown to get the party started! We first headed to LA Puerta to enjoy happy hour, before heading over to the iFabbo party at Robert Cromeans.

La Puerta has an amazing sangria margarita and the guacamole was delicious, during their happy hour from 3-7 p.m. they have half off all drinks and appetizers. 

The iFabbo Glamour Suite at Robert Cromeans Salon was fabulous! They had a wide array of beauty treatments available; Dermalogica facials, Make-up by Stila, Hair by Robert Cromean, shellac manicures from CND, and spray tans by Beautisol. We also received an amazing gift bag from all of the companies involved. Thanks Sinead and Beautisol for another fabulous event!

Hair Done

Nails Shellaced

 

Now it's time to party!

So we headed to the Hard Rock Hotel for the Match.com, Kiss our Sass Party with our new friend Kimmy from The Plastic Diaries. Yes, I snuck in to the single girl bash ;) Later this week I'll be giving away the contents of their gift bag along with a few other goodies I picked up. Turns out we all loved photo booths! 

Special Thanks to Sinead Norenius - Founder of Beautisol, CND Co-Founder Jan Arnold, Annet King from Dermalogica, and Robert Cromeans himself! 

XOXO,

Annie

Staycation Day One: Blogher11... so many women, so little time

This past weekend, I went to Blogher11 in Sunny San Diego. I am fairly new to blogging and had never even heard of a blogging conference let alone thought about attending one until one was coming to my city and my friend Amber from Amber's Notebook (you should remember her from here, here and well here too!)  said that me must attend. I am so glad we did, not only did I meet some amazing women (more to come on them later), but I got a ton of free swag (don't worry I will be sharing that with you all later as well, with several prize packs that you can win!) Over 3,000 women attended and while I obviously did not meet them all, I did get to met some great new friends!

View from our room at the Marriott Gaslamp Quarter, only a few short blocks away from the convention center. It was nice to be able to escape the madness of 3,000+ women at the convention center for a bit! Beautiful hotel, the rooftop has the Altitude Sky Lounge that has a view inside of the ballpark.

Amber and her mom made us these amazing bags and shirts!

 Along with some awesome meetings and conferences, there was also plenty of silliness with

our new Aussie friend Kimmi from ThePlasticDiaries and The StyleLessDiaries, she is amazing. From the minute we met her we were hooked and unfortunately for her she hasn't been able to get rid of us since!

What do you think, could we be Brawny's next spokeswomen?!?

or maybe the Got Milk people need a navy wife as a spokeswoman!

  I heard it through the grapevine...

We had so much fun and took lots of great pictures. I just got home and have a million things on my to-do list, but I will be posting more on our adventures at Blogher11.

I also met a bunch of great MilBloggers, more to come on those wonderful women later!

XOXO,

Annie

Viv & Ingrid- Berkeley < 3

Amber and I headed to Berkeley to check out Viv & Ingrid at Oxford Hall

 If you haven't heard of them, you soon will. 

They have been featured all over and their jewelry is amazing!

 The Jewelry

 The designers- Viv & Ingrid

 The Girls- Tashina from Logical Harmony, Michelle from Fvncy, me and Amber from Amber's Notebook

MY OUTFIT

Dress and Belt- Ambiance in SF

 I got gold chains- OK well Amber and Michelle did anyways

Amber has the Disc Necklace (here) and Michelle has the Wishbone Charm necklace, as seen in People StyleWatch (here)

I < 3 these pearl earrings,

but my wallet only allowed me to buy these cute black studs instead. I haven't taken them off since, they seem to match everything! 

Their hoops are exceptional, the braided ones are made from ten pieces of wire hand braided together (found here) Expect to see these everywhere!

 Delicious vegan, yes vegan cinnamon rolls and some champagne. I just <3 the champagne glasses and cute straws- I will be finding some for my house!

More treasures

Their workshop

and an amazing gift bag, the gold braided bracelet (here) from Viv & Ingrid is amazing- everyone should have at lease one! The anchor stationary from-- the name escapes me right now and my husband just went to bed and has to be up in like three hours so I will update this tomorrow, sorry--  is so perfect for me ;) 

 I <3 everything about Viv & Ingrid's jewelry and store, they had the cutest stuff. I can't wait to visit their shop again and try everything in my gift bag! 

XOXO,

Annie