In The Beginning . . .

Ok, so I am sitting here waiting for my contractor to arrive. I am so excited to have projects I have been wanting to have done FOREVER, finally come to fruition!

I was moving some furniture this morning and my youngest asked me why. I explained Greg was coming over and she said, "he really is your go to guy". Had me laughing and agreeing!!

So here's the first thing on my "Go To Guy's" List:

This is the view from the living room into the office where the girls and I all have desks. The girls have started cleaning out their desks, thus the trash on the ground! While on vacation in Paris this spring break, we went to the  Les Puces de Saint-Ouen, the most famous flea market in Paris. 

Here are the girls at the flea market.

Here's my youngest at my favorite stall.
Look at those moldings!!

My pediment is now laying across the
green trunk.

This is a close-up of one end.
It's about 5' long.

Here's us in the large cab we had to request
to get it back to the hotel! 

The girls squished in the seat!

Love this shot!

I won't even go into how many times FedEx had to come to our hotel because of all the paperwork, but alas, it arrived in St. Pete safe and sound! Greg is going to build a surround around the doors to the office to hold the pediment.


This past Saturday, I spent ALL, and I mean ALL, day staining wood!

I turned this pile of naked wood, into this beautiful pile of stained gorgeousness (I know, probably not a real word but it SOOO works here!).


So, the Go To Guy is here so I am off to answer questions. Wait to you see what he is going to do in my dining room, but that is for another post!! 

All Grown Up . . .

Ok, kids grow up and boy did I realize that on Friday night. My oldest daughter attended her 8th grade dance. She wore a beautiful dress bought for her by her great aunt and uncle a couple of summer agos. The funny thing is the dress is a little too big for her now. I had to make a few minor alterations (it was a weak attempt - but no safety pins!) in the back.

Sorry for the darkness of this photo. I was also getting my nails done so couldn't get up.
My oldest loved having her toes and fingers done at the same time!

She did her own hair and make-up and we had her nails done the day before. The biggest issue for me was the shoes. Nowadays, there are either HIGH HEELS or flats. Well, she didn't want to wear flats so we ended up with the heels. I still think they were a bit high for a 14-year-old, and told her they aren't comfortable to walk in, let alone dance) but truth be told, she's a great kid and they are only shoes. It's not like she wanted a tattoo or something permanent (plus, her feet were hurting her at the end of the night - so mom still knows best!).

Rich was on a flower high. He had the florist who delivered my anniversary flowers, also bring her a corsage. What a great man!!

16 rose for 16 hard, earned years!!

Oldest and youngest!

This is my daughter with her best friend since 1st grade. They have been together 9 years. I am sad, as they are, that they will be going to different high schools. We all hope they keep in touch.

They dance was held at the school but they had professionals decorate it so they said it looked beautiful! So after lots of photos, into the dance they went, and that is the last I heard about until the next morning. She went to a friend's house for an "after-party" and then spent the night. Apparently they went to bed around 4:30 in the morning - oh vay! Guess we all will be paying for that later. She had a great time, danced her booty off  in spite of the hurting heels and went to bed with great memories.

I, on the other hand, spent the day staining wood, but that's for another post!

Pinspiration!

Ok, so life has been keeping us super busy. The end of the school year is so exciting for the girls - we have an 8th dance and graduation, year-end parties (out the ying-yang!), dance rehearsal and then recital, piano recital, and so on... you get the idea as we all are enjoying, and rushing to, all these activities.

So what, you ask, do I do to calm myself and embrace the chaos (other than therapy that comes in the shape of a wine bottle, box, or jug - I'm not judging!), I head to Pinterest!!

Something about pulling up my page and seeing all my favorite things, right there, in front of me, makes me giddy like a school girl! We are getting ready to make some minor changes to our house, will post all the before and afters starting next week, and I spent a couple hours with the carpenter designing how I want our coffered ceiling and moldings to hold our pediment we bought at a Paris flea market. My carpenter/contractor is one of the best and reasonably priced. We sat down yesterday and I pulled up Pinterest to show him exactly what I want.

I love the detailing, even though I want mine to be slightly different. The color is also similar to what we want. Don't want to go too dark (please go to my Pinterest page to get all the original sources).

He is also going to make one of these for me, either 8 feet long or 2 4s. This will go on top of my new Pottery Barn piece to help hide the window it is covering. I will use it for seasonal decorating, flowers in the spring, pumpkins and gourds in the Fall, and ornaments with lights at Christmas (can't wait!!). Of course, that long will take a LOT of items to fill it but I am ALWAYS up for that challenge. That's just a few of the items on my Greg List.

Another source of Pinterest love for me is the recipes. Here's what's been on tap for dinner the last couple of weeks:

Chicken Asparagus Roll-Ups

Made these for dinner the other night. I added garlic and used gruyere cheese because that it what I had on hand. I also added the "sauce" on the inside and it all melted together nicely. Would make again.

Crowd Pleasing Taco Salad

This salad was a huge hit with the family. I bought a small bag of Fritos, just enough to give the salad a little bit of crunch. I also used green olives instead of black, added fresh cilantro, used ground turkey breast instead of hamburger, added black beans, corn, and red onion. One final adaptation for our family was using spinach and spring mix instead of iceberg. It was such a hit, that my youngest took it to school with her the next day for lunch (when I made it, we added the dressing and turkey to individual bowls so leftovers wouldn't be soggy and my vegetarian could still eat it).

Sunburst Lemon Bars

While I like the occasional hint of lemon (I do LOVE the smell though), I am not a huge fan. However, when I saw these bars, my mouth started watering! I am making these tomorrow. My husband picked up a big bag of wonderful looking lemons at Sam's this weekend so looking forward to these. I will let you know how they taste.

Pinterest also makes me laugh!

Amen Sista!

Too funny!

So there's my Pinterest love for the day!!! Very excited about the projects starting next week but currently bummed because round 2 of my projects (closing in the pass through from dining to kitchen and replacing all the painted molding on the 2nd floor with stained molding) will have to wait a little bit longer. I just got the estimate from the A/C guy currently working in my house (my contractor's partner). Needless to say, living in Florida, feeling like it is already summer time, my A/C has to work so that takes precedence although I hate writing big checks for something you can't see!!

Can't wait to fill you in on all the changes happening, but that's for another post!

Finally Coming Together . . .

Ok, so I have been working real hard on my family room and it is S. L. O. W. L. Y. coming together. If you don't remember, here are some pictures of the before.

Please give me a little break - I had packed up Easter and since I was getting ready to paint, I didn't put anything back on the ledges. I did love that green color but my husband (*cough*) and I, decided to change our overall house look to Mediterranean.  So I pulled everything off the walls, patched ALL those holes, and started painting.

I have lived in this house for a little over 8 years and this is the 4th time I have painted this room. When I realized that, I promised (fingers crossed) my hubby that it will stay this way for awhile!!

Here's the new wall color. It's more of a neutral beige. It goes nicely with the fabric I am making into curtains and a few pillows next week (will post on that sewing attempt later). 

Here's my beautiful new fabric. I think the colors are great!

It's Waverly Santa Maria Adobe.

This is going to be made into two curtains, two seat covers at the kitchen table,

and two pillows.

(Yes, I know the fabrics have Southwestern names but we think the colors

look great and still work perfectly for Mediterranean!).

This complimentary fabric is Waverly's Panama Wave Adobe.

This will cover two chairs at the kitchen table and probably one pillow

or a mat for a frame.

I haven't bought this one but might buy enough to make one or two pillows.

It's called Waverly Mayan Medallion Adobe.

Now, I have been VERY patient with Pottery Barn. I ordered the Tucker Wall Unit in black from them the beginning of April. It wasn't cheap but I got a great deal. I bought a 15% off coupon on eBay for $7 (I know, who knew??) and got a MAJOR discount on S&H. BONUS!  Well, my patience paid off. My PB unit arrived yesterday via White Glove delivery! That means they bring it in your house and set it up! (I have assembled more than my share of furniture in the past few years!!) Thank you Pottery Barn!! The guys were literally in and out in about 10 minutes. And I think it looks FABUUULOUSSS!

Here's the before. This window looks right at the neighbor's house so we ALWAYS
keep the blinds closed or have a piece of furniture over it.
(Remember the curtains hanging next to the hutch in the first photo on this post?)

And here's my beautiful Tucker Wall Unit now!

I just love it!!

I did know when I bought this piece, that the side pieces don't flush with the main unit and I was good with that. Only, my crafty, little brain did not put two-and-two together to realize that the window will show through - duh! So my super, fantastic contractor is coming to my house on Monday to start doing projects around my house (I promise to blog about ALL of them - everything from hanging the pediment I bought in a Parisian flea market, to adding/replacing baseboards and crown moulding, putting a coffered ceiling in our dining room, closing in our pass-through, and the list goes on!). We are going to put a thin piece of MDF or something like that, paint it black, and slide it behind the gap. I think black is the way we want to go because then your eye will glaze over it as if it is just one large piece. If that doesn't look right, then we will just go with the wall color. We don't want to cut the trim in the pieces in case we decide to use them somewhere else some other day.

Well, I am off to do what I love best - decorate (and unfortunately, take care of a sick kid). I will be happy to share my photos once I get it all filled (it really does hold a TON of stuff!) but that will be for another post!