Helloooo lovelies. I went on the hunt for a few new blogs to love recently and came across Stephanie's blog Under The Table And Dreaming. I found tons of ideas from her and her talented readers who submit projects of their own regularly. I mean I've seen everything from an armoire turned baby changing station to free printables to recreate the beautiful collage she has hanging in her kitchen.

You can find the complete post including free printables HERE. Along with tons of other crafty ideas on her blog.

I've been having quite a difficult time figuring out what to do with our kitchen walls which recently turned into this disaster.

Nevermind the dishes and misc. items, the real problem here are all the holes in the walls that I've patched. So I'm hoping I can make some new ideas I've seen come to life and share a second reveal of the kitchen with you all soon. There are a few new features you may already notice. ;)

As excited as I was to simply find new ideas on Stephanie's blog I also entered myself into a giveaway for a $25 gift certificate to The Pleated Poppy and WON!

The tough fun part is deciding what I want to use that gift certificate toward!

 

A big THANK YOU to Stephanie and The Pleated Poppy for such a darling surprise!

What would you ladies choose??? And, any ideas for my now bare kitchen walls???

good morning sunshine (award).

I feel like my blog has been less than up to par lately so you can imagine my surprise this morning when I saw that Jessica from Sea To My Heart gave me the Sunshine Award. Thank you Jessica, that surely was sweet.

This award comes with really fun rules:

1. Thank the blogger that gave you the award.

2. List 7 things about yourself people may not know.

3. Share the award with three other deserving bloggers you've recently discovered (and love).

4. Let the recipients know you gave them an award.

Soooo, I get to share fun facts about myself AND share a few new favorite blogs? Um, yes please.

Random facts about moi:

1. I truly believe I belong by the sea. I'm a different person when I'm near the ocean.

2. I met my husband when I was only 15. Which means we've been together nearly 11 years! Married for nearly 3. That's exhasuting just to think about. ;)

3. I am hands down the most fickle person I know. Gemini.

4. My grandparents raised me.

5. I think I'm addicted to furniture. Seriously.

6. I have very few close friends, and hate that fact.

7. When I was young I was afraid of dogs. Having recently lost my first dog, I learned just how much you truly can love an animal.

Now that I've bored you all to death here are three favorite "new to me" blogs for you to check out! AND, be sure to head on over and see what Jessica has been up to at Sea To My Heart. She's been up to some lovely transforming that I just know you all will love. Example:

A few other lovelies to meet are:

1. Michelle at Three Men and a Lady (whose striped hallway has been seen on blogs everywhere and still amazes me every time.)

2. Anonymous ;) at Shabby Addict (who just revealed the adorable nursery she created for her daughter)

*I'm such a new follower I've not yet even figured out your name. I'm sorry!

3. Jessica at Living Bettter Together (although her blog is not that new to me, she throws parties I can only dream of attending. they're adorable and seem like so much FUN! so you girls should check her out too.)

I'm inspired by each and every blog I follow and although seeing so much talent sometimes makes it hard on this fickle girl to decide which direction she'd like to take her home in, the good stuff you all share sure does help!

Have a sunshining Saturday lovelies!

simple inspiration.

Last week sometime Jack and I went out for our occasional Marshall's/TJ Maxx/Home Goods shopping excursion to see what kind of goodies we could find (at discounted prices of course). I was happy to come home with a new pair of jeans that are super long which is a rare find for me, and a couple decorative items for his soon to be transformed bedroom. But the one thing I didn't come home with, I've been thinking about ever since.

The very moment I set eyes on this little linen pillow I was in an instant daydream envisioning it in the sweetest baby girl nursery. I imagined tons and tons of white (no surprise there) with this lovely little pillow resting on a slipcovered white chair where I would sing the sweetest of lullabies as Jack played nearby. Of course the short attention spanned toddler in my cart put a quick stop to that daydream as he got bored with his bowl and spoon he'd been occupied with thus far. But then, today he says this:

Right after that he said he wanted a "sister baby" but the video got cut off. I mean if that isn't inspiration, I don't know what is. Hahaha. Just a daydream at this point ladies, just a daydream. :)

I've found a few new blogs I love recently and I'm looking forward to sharing some of my favorite inspiration from them soon.

Have a lovely weekend!

a zoo of a day.

Since Travis was out of town a few days this week for work, the little guy and I stayed busy to keep our minds off of how lonely it can be without hubby/daddy around to make us crazy. ;)

Tuesday we spent the afternoon having lunch with my sister-in-law and scoping out the house they're buying closer to us! Yesterday we left home early to make the two hour drive south and spend the day at the zoo with my girlfriend, sister, her boyfriend, and my neice. After filling our bellies on our packed lunches we braved the heat, humidity, and threatening gray clouds to catch a glimpse of "wild animals". Little did we know we'd do more than catch a glimpse of a few.

Jack thought it was so cool to feed the giraffe although I doubt he'll realize how exciting that really is until he's older. I was jealous. ;)

My neice Alivia exclaimed the giraffe hurt her already existing thumb "boo boo". Oh, little girls. :)

By mid afternoon the heat, crowd, and lack of nap started taking it's toll. Point in case:

*notice the clenched fists in complete aggravation? I've said it before, "It's a good thing he's so cute!"

All was calm again once we entered the petting zoo!

Jack found the one and only goat not interested in the feeding frenzy and nearly force fed him.

Once the poor goat accepted, it was game over. Alivia even got in on the action and it was two persistent toddlers against one exhausted goat. We all know who won here.

Adorable moment: Jack trying to help a sweet little sheep get more food from the dispenser.

 A quick stop by the Polar Bears made us want to take a dip of our own to cool off.

And off to the (indoor) pool we were headed.

*sorry for the poor cell phone photo quality

An amazing day it was with people I love the most, memorable experiences with the kids, and just the reminder I needed that even cloudy days can produce smiles.

*Sidenote: With a good nights sleep behind me I was able to put a real effort and clear headed thought into the blog design today and am quite pleased with how it turned out. Sorry for the mess while it was "under construction". :)

late night nonsense.

I'm home with just the little guy, it's late, I can't sleep and I decide to work on my blog layout??? Worst.Decision.Ever.

I have no idea what I've done, how I did it, or how to fix it and I'm quite certain I will lose sleep over it tonight. Don't judge me. I'm a self admitted perfectionist and can't stand something being "off". It looks like a jumbled mess and as I sit here freaking out over something that should be alot less important to me, I realize it's later than I thought and I have a little boy who will be eager to get going to the zoo in the morning so I should be in bed or I'll look like a wild animal myself tomorrow.

Anyone have any clue how to "fix" my late night, foggy headed, efforts?

Until I get this figured out... please excuse my mess while I perform (clueless) maintenance.

fabulous for sure!

Don't you just love coming across a giveaway that you swoon over? Well ladies, be sure to go say hello to fabulous k today because she has an UH-mazing stella & dot giveaway for a $50 shopping credit. AND, you can enter up to SEVEN times. We all know 7 is supposed to be the luckiest of numbers so best of luck my lovely friends.

My favorite piece (although it's nearly impossible to pick just ONE) is the Clover Key Necklace.

Share your favorites, and of course let me know if you win so I can swoon over your pick! :)

take a seat.

Maybe you all remember the days when I used to post regularly, and, maybe you're new to the blog and are disappointed in how infrequent my posts are. Either way, you must know I don't like it either but life takes over these things sometimes ya know. I'm working on it... ;)

Well, back in the days of regular posts our "sitting area", which is actually just an akward extra section off of the living room, looked like THIS.

That first shot with the toy box and animals... I cannot even believe I ever let it look like that. But, the little baby pretty much ran this house at that time. :) And, although the second shot was muuuuuch better, I just knew that dresser was one that wouldn't stay for long. Although lovely, I envisioned something else. Something along these lines....

Now if you don't mind I'd like to go over the exact changes in this space because the littlest things made the biggest difference.

Notice old white blinds and heavy (ugly) drapes were replaced with flatstick roman shades, new drapery hardware and lovely linen curtains. The refinished dresser was replaced with a storage cabinet I found on Craigslist for $20!!! Gave it a fresh coat of "summer gray" paint and new hardware (sorry I forgot the before picture but lets just say huge brass eagle heads served as hardware, UGH!), adorned it with some of my favorite accessories and voila'. Flanking the cabinet are two chairs I picked up at Goodwill for $6 each. They once looked like this...

I wasn't so much for the chipped yellow paint and Navajo type print fabric. So, more white paint and clearance navy pinstriped fabric and these two beauties seriously make me swoon. Last but certainly not least, that builders light fixture that once barely lit the space has been replaced with a brand new $30 chandelier I found at *wait for it* JC Penney Furniture Outlet.

Other than changing out the photos, adding more books, and making tags for our photo boxes, I'd say this area will look like this permanently. Eventually a table will be added for use as a desk but details on that will come with the updated living room post. ;)