imma fan.

A month or so ago, when it was stupid hot, we were finishing up a Friday afternoon and a friend was over hanging out...so naturally we started feeling a front porch happy hour coming on, so we tried it. Four of us sat on the porch, drinking beer, talking about stuff that didn't matter...and tried to pretend we weren't sweating and miserable.

We lowered the cabana curtain...a little relief but not enough.

We decided to tough it out when along came a comment that went like this:

"we just need a ceiling fan out here to get some air moving"

Then I piped up and said, "I've still got that one we bought at Lowes for $20! it's not an outdoor fan, but it was so cheap, who cares? let's put her up."

dudes/handymen agreed: "ok. y'all got the tools?"

new cheap fan: check.

tools: kinda, sorta, enough to work...check.

Then the crafter in me, couldn't be contained and proclaimed, "y'all this cheap stark white is just dumb, let's paint it."  

with some "uhhh, ok" ... "yeah, that'd be cool" replies...I quickly came back with a few lame spray paint options including black, chalkboard or fire engine red.
Fail.

They all got veto'd immediately, then Leith {jokingly} said the words that made our hearts sing:

"let's paint each blade differently"

I ran upstairs to my craft room, grabbed a huge drop cloth, all my paint brushes and paint...

then for three+ hours...we drank beer, sat still, talked, laughed and painted our own personal "blades". and for some reason it didn't feel so blazing hot any more.

y'all. it was a blast.

Unfortunately, I didn't grab my camera, dammit. the before and after of this beaut would be worth a million words. but I do have a just before and final product to bask in.

{oh, and this teaser picture I sent Lindsay from my cell phone to show her what she was missing out on if she didn't get to the house asap.}

Everybody approached their masterpiece differently:

{corn + okra}

Alex took a total first grade teacher approach; quick idea, crazy colorful, large scale and simple...she finished first so she got to do two blades.

{guitar}
Leith was extremely meticulous...as in he had to have a pencil with a good point and fine eraser because he sketched his piece first...which is of his own guitar and he did all the detail by memory which was kinda impressive.

{mountain scene}

Drake knew immediately what he wanted to paint, curled up in his own space and kept it a secret from everyone until the finished product; though funny enough, Al knew exactly what he was going to do -- she said he sketches that same scene on everything.  

{map}

I  was the last one finished and painted mine like I do everything; I paint about 14 different things and paint over each of them until I decide what I want to do...and when the texture turns out great, I pretend like I was indecisive on purpose and it's my custom "layering" effect. BS. {the white dots mark where we're all from}
 

 And here's this little piece of awesome in all her glory:

Granted, we still had our happy hour porch time but we didn't want to turn on the fan because we just wanted to stare at it.  And that went on for too many several days.

Oh! and the pulls are friendship bracelets, duh.

Honestly, this lil piece of junk fan doesn't really put out much air at all. 

And it will likely be warped before long as it's not made for the outdoor elements....BUT she is a sight to behold to us.  

Pretty much it just never gets old catching each other stuck in a smile gazing at it, in any random moment.

And more than anything, it's about the damn coolest conversation piece around.