by. the. way.

i've been trying to decide what to do to celebrate my 30th birthday. i'm at a pretty amazing point in my life -- my parents and my brother, great friends, an awesome job. although i try to do small things throughout the year to be kind to others, i felt like maybe this should be a month of giving. thanks to pinterest and some googling i found other people (mostly stay at home moms) who celebrated their 30th birthdays with what they were terming "30 random acts of kindness". here's the thing -- once you sit down, make a list of things to do for others, and then execute these actions and watch people's reactions, these are no longer *random*. i also found that people were doing things that were often done out of pity or condescension (i.e. i gave a bag of toiletries that cost $5 to a homeless guy bc it was better than giving him $5 for drugs/booze -- that is verbatim what this chick said). part of altruism and philanthropy is giving without expecting anything...

about two weeks ago there was an arts market where this guy from atlanta had these really amazing carved wood pieces of art. i ended up with a really awesome owl (see below) but once i hung it on my living room wall i realized it needed some company.  i started brainstorming (read: pinterest stalking) and i came across a few ideas for mirrors surrounded by wood, which was the general idea i had to start. my initial thought was taking pallets, ripping the wood and making a basic, rustic, unfinished frame. that idea got scrapped when i saw these postings  Wood Chevron Mirror  and  Shim Mirror .  when i saw these i knew that i had to do something similar. sooooo -- i fused the ideas together. off to the home improvement store. i bought 15" long cedar shims, minwax stain in jacobean, two 2x4' pressed boards, glass/mirror cutter, paintbrushes, and gloves. i thought originally to use an old mirror on the back of one of my bedroom doors as the mirror, but my mom ar...