I got the "blues"

Besides the master closet, the other room that is pretty much done is the dining room. This isn't the "reveal" but it's the first room that I was 100% sure about the paint color and it's about 80% complete.

First, the inspiration room from Emily Clark:

Here is the dining room shortly after moving in:

The brown was too dark and Keith and I both fell in LOVE with the Benjamin Moore Santorini Blue of the inspiration room.

The paint going on the wall! It was so light and refreshing. The bottom half and trim is BM Decorator's White.

I love the curtains in Emily's room, but I just couldn't bare to spend that much. I hunted fabric online and walked into target and found these! They were perfect and just the right price!

Here is an "in progress" photo from Barrett's birthday party:

Incredible what a little paint can do! Can't wait to completely finished.

Master Closet Reveal

It's only been about 6 months, but I'm back and ready to share about our life. 

The first thing we did when we got the keys to the split-level is start demo on the master bedroom closet. We were in such a hurry to demo, I forgot to take better before pics. These are post-demo before pictures.

 As you can see there was only a rod going across the back wall and on the right side. That's it!

We researched what closet system we wanted and asked for gift cards for Christmas (because closet systems are pricey). We settled on the Martha Stewart closet system available at Home Depot. Our closet is a walk-in by late 50's-early 60's standards and is the largest closet we have had since moving to Birmingham. However, it doesn't hold a candle to the walk-in's in our other two homes. We had to maximize the space from floor to ceiling. We custom designed our closet online and told us which parts to buy. Keith had to cut some shelves. It wasn't an easy project, but it definitely was worth it!

 Top hanging rod is Keith's shirts, blazers and pullovers. At the very top is where is keep shoes we don't wear often (high heels, dress shoes, etc.) as well as my purses not currently in use.

The baskets are from Target and hold my scarves, gloves, hats and clutches. The shelves below are my shoes. The other set of shelves are for Keith's shoes.

Those are my dresses hanging under Keith's shoes. You can also see our sweaters folded and pants hanging under my shoes. I also painted the closet Benjamin Moore Shaker Beige. It's almost a joke home much I use that color. It just works when you don't know what else to do.

One last thing, I store flip flops and flats in a Wal-Mart basket on the floor. I have some ideas for hanging jewelry in here as well, so the closet isn't finished yet. But that's the joy of home ownership. Your rooms are always evolving!

It feels so good to be back!

Barrett’s Birthday: The Details

I have finally moved everything around and I’m ready to start doing some blogging and I’m pumped! I wanted to share some of the details of Barrett’s first birthday party. It was a lot of work and it was a ton of fun. I definitely made some rookie mistakes, and I learned a lot too. Pinterest was a complete life saver to help me throw a great party on a small budget.

 

I served lunch because of the time of day. I got a great recipe for Crockpot Mashed Potatoes. Click the link below:

Crockpot Mashed Potatoes

The invitations, cupcake toppers, food labels, and thank you cards came from Style Me Gorgeous.

I can’t believe my baby is 1! My sister-in-law took this picture of us before the party.

Big News!

I can finally reveal our big news!!!!

We are buying a house! We love it and I can’t wait to execute all the ideas of I’ve been pinning on Pinterest. So for now until move in day, we are cleaning out, donating, selling and packing. Hopefully there is an IKEA trip in my near future as well! Look for before interior pictures sometime in January.

Admittance

They say that admitting you have a problem is the first step to healing, but I am afraid there is no cure for…

I have to also confess that my time on Pinterest is directly affecting my ability to blog. But the good news is, all this “pinning’ will lead to great posts about something big that I just can’t tell you about quite yet. I also have an abnormally large following over there. I seriously spend WAY too much time on this site. They even have an iphone app.

So if you want to

Come on over. 194 people can’t be wrong.

Where were you?

 

On the morning of September 11th, it was any normal Tuesday morning. I had signed up for a 7:00 a.m. aerobics class, but I always came home and napped before my practicum hours in the Child Development lab. That morning I was in a hurry and I forgot to turn off my TV. When I got back from class, GMA was on and they were discussing the plane that hit the World Trade Center. I just sat and watched as live on air they tried to make sense of how that happened. Then, we all watched in astonishment as the second plane hit. This was no accident. Shortly after my dad called, he explained that this was what war looked like. I think I talked to several more people and checked my campus email to find out my instructions for practicum hours that day. We were not to speak of the days events while working with the 3 and 4 year old children. I put in my hours at the CDC and I'm not exactly sure what I did the rest of the day. Probably a lot of talking and TV watching trying to process everything. It was our friend Christin's birthday. We made the decision to go ahead with the plans we had for her birthday party that night, even though none of us were much in the mood for a party. We had a friend who was an intern at the White House, we finally heard from him. I was 20 and I was a junior at the University of Alabama.

In the days following I remember the thoughts that consume you at night, thinking would terrorist attack Tuscaloosa. My grandmother told me about what life was like after the Pearl Harbor attacks. We were again afraid of planes flying over head. We did a lot of growing up. We were not innocent college students anymore, we knew that real evil existed.

Everyone has a story from that day. If you want leave your story below, please do so.

Bronze or Pottery?

Oh the choices. The traditional 8th wedding anniversary gift is bronze or pottery. Luckily, Keith knows me much better and got me clothes for such an occasion. Keith hasn't picked out his present yet. Are you getting the feeling that we have been married a LONG time.

Marriage isn't always sunshine and roses. It's such unbelieveable hard work. BUT, it is so worth it! We have no idea what is ahead of us. But I thank God that he chose Keith to walk with me through the good and the bad. Here's to the next 8!