You gotta have faith!

When I was fresh out of college my dream was to interpret in Washington DC, though I encountered a few set backs on the way I finally made it. While I was there I met some awesome people, some of which I stay I touch with, but I also encountered the hardest 6 months of my life.  I was broken. My mentor wasn't the best fit for me, and I allowed her to speak heaps and bounds of negativity into my life. On one occasion she told me I should go back to college in hopes of doing something I "would be better at". Needless to say my 6 months were filled with heart ache and tears. 

On the last day of my internship I squared my shoulders and stood tall on my last interpreting assignment, at the end she said, "if you had done that all along I would have told them to hire you, but you didn't, sorry." Those might not have been her exact words, but the damage was done.

  I was defeated. No one could save me. Except for Sam, or Momma Sam as we called her in Nashville. I went home, gathered my things and drove to her office in Franklin, TN. I sat there and told her all about DC. I cried, she cried. Then she started putting the pieces back together. She spoke life into my dying heart. I interpreted with her in Nashville just long enough not to be completely broken. Then life moved on, I got a full-time gig in Paducah and then we got married and I moved to Cali. 

And then the brokenness crept in- truth be told, it never fully went away. Looking back, I needed more time with Momma Sam, hind sight is 20/20,no? 

When we moved, I convinced myself and J that I needed a break from interpreting. My heart and head was too hurt to start over. So for the past 7 months I've worked another job ignoring the longing for silence and communication at the same time. 

Until today. Today I met with an interpreter here in Fresno. And though she doesn't know it, Momma Sam saved me again. This Fresno interpreter asked me about my experiences and I told her about Sam. Turns out that Momma Sam's performance interpreting workshop almost made its way here last year. Turns out one of the people that could potentially be my employer loves Momma Sam's work. Turns out that could help me get my foot in the door, it's all about who you know ;-) 

Once again, my faith in humanity has been restored. Once again Momma Sam had something to do with it. 

I might still be a little chipped, but I'm not broken anymore and I'm on my way to being made whole. One sign at a time. 

From Folding to Fab!

This weekend J and I stayed home in an effort to recharge and save money! :-) I had a couple of DIY projects that I wanted to begin/finish; this is one of them! 

We "inherited" these folding chairs when we moved to Cali. My vintage table only had 2 chairs, not exactly good for having people over to dinner!

I had seen a couple of folding chair revamps on Pinterest- where else?! And decided to give it a try. 

In total this cost us around $16.

$8 for one yard of fabric and $8 for two cans of spray paint. 

We headed to JoAnn Fabric where J spotted this adorable vintage but yet modern fabric. 

The first step is to take off what ever cushions you have on your chairs, ours had a top piece- which screwed in. And a bottom piece- that was held in with rivets. Basically to get the rivets out you just squeeze around the base and then push them through the hole. Make sense? 

Next step was recovering the cushions. Now, I am in no way a pro at this! Lay the cushion down on the the fabric and pull it tight. I usually staple the middle section of each side first. Then just continue stapling until you're all covered up. 

The hardest part was the top cushions. They were slightly curves, something I didn't know before. Thank goodness my fabric had a bit of stretch which allowed me to cover them with out wrinkles. 

Next we took the chairs and spray painted them using Rustoleum in SatinLagoon. Spray paint has come along way! They have so many colors to choose from! 

Three very light coats was what it took for ours to go from ugly gray to fabulous teal. 

Let the chairs dry for a couple of hours. Then re-assemble.

*Because our bottom cushions had rivets- I just put an ample amount of hot glue around the rivets before shoving them through the holes. You can buy a rivet gun- but that seemed like something we didn't really need. 

J's concern is that the paint might scuff off- but hopefully we're careful! 

They look much better sitting at the table now. :-)