Antique Vanity refinished

My kids great-grandma gave this lovely vanity to my daughter...

It's an old antique vanity that has definitely seen its share of years.  The wear and tear on it was numerous and the amount of time I spent on it was many hours.  It really took me months to do, but that is because it was hard to strip all the paint off and so I could only get an hour here or an hour there to work on it.  Here is what it looked like after I got done sanding as much as I could off...

Then I got some water-based stripper and covered the remainder of the paint.  It still took a while but I finally was able to get most of the old pink and green paint off!  As you can see, I could not get everything, but I sanded the remainder down as well as I could.

Then I painted the entire vanity this color...

This color showed every knick and disfiguration, which really bugged me!  I almost sanded it down again, but I don't think this wood can take much more sanding.  So I got my handy burnt amber glaze out and wiped the vanity down with it.  I made sure I wiped off any excess with another rag as I went along, so it wouldn't over power the blue.  Here's the glaze...

And here is the final product...

We still have to get some of the paint off the mirror, because I was too lazy to tape it.  But it shouldn't be too hard.  Definitely easier than stripping that paint!  My daughter loves the final outcome and really that is all that matters.



Healthy Habits

I have lost 13 pounds... in 10 weeks.  I actually lost 7 pounds in 2 weeks, gained 1 pound back the next week and then began working out the next week.  From there in 7 weeks I lost 7 pounds and in total 13.  I have changed my eating habits, beginning with those first two weeks, where I did the South Beach diet.  From there I have learned to eat smaller meals, have small healthy snacks in between my meals and keep the chocolate and sweets out of my diet as much as possible.  Now don't get me wrong... I still eat chocolate and sweets, but I am so much better about it.  For example... my friend at work brought in chocolate covered macadamia nuts (my favorite).  The first day I had 6 of them... was a bit rough, but before I changed my ways I would have had 20.  On the second day I only had 2.  Much better! 

I am working out 4-6 times a week.  I really LOVE the feeling of finishing a 45 minute interval jog/walk.  I LOVE the feeling of finishing 45 minutes of Zumba or Yoga or riding my exercise bike.  It makes me HAPPY!  My best weeks are the ones I complete 6 days of exercise and so my goal is to do as many days of exercise as I can.  Even if I only get 20 minutes in... that's better than 0 minutes right?!!?  The hardest part of working out is starting.  Once I start I feel like I am on top of the world.  And losing around 3 inches of my waist has made a huge difference in how I feel.  I've gone down a size in my jeans and all my clothes fit so much better.  But really it isn't about the pounds, at least not entirely.  It's the way I feel. 

I found this awesome little home boot camp work sheet on pinterest and it will be my new workout, for at least 2-3 times a week.  I'll probably repeat the drills so it will be around 50 minutes to complete the whole boot camp.  Give me a few weeks and I will let you know how things are going.  Hopefully, with the boot camp, jogging, yoga and zumba I will begin to completely transform my body!

Here's to a healthy and strong life!  Cheers!