Ok I have to admit to a little chill in the air, despite my reluctance to let summer go. Of course when this happens and more time is spent inside I start thinking about tweaking things here and there. My living room is the next on my list.
It looks pretty good here with lots of light coming in. The rug is newish and we love it, it's from Amy Butler. I was waiting for the rug before figuring out the color for the table and other things, like curtains. I think I want to have the table painted that lighter blue color and do curtains in a similar shade, but I'm having trouble finding some dark enough blue that don't look too heavy. I want them to be full length (the ones I have now were made with something I had on hand, hence the short size). Ideas? Thoughts?
To the right of this picture is the little phone cabinet:
I have the table moved into my craftroom right now so Tuesday and I can work on projects together. I think I'm going to leave it as is, but I need to clear coat it so it's easier to clean.
I did already do one little thing:
I re-did the nook above the fireplace to make a little art gallery.
When I was thrifting with the girls I said I thought a little collection of glass candlestick holders would be fun. They said I could find a whole collection in the one Goodwill we were at, and they were right.
Are you starting to turn the focus inside? Any little projects around the house you want to share?
Last night my wonderful husband threw me the best party of my life. I told him I wanted a backyard party with BBQ burritos and our friend's band playing. The rest was up to him. He went crazy and almost all my friends came, it was brilliant.
The set up for the band:
Jettison Bend.Really it was just Brian going solo since his bandmates had commitments, but it was so great! His music is awesome, please clicky click on their link.
Looking back up at our house (reusing the garland from Tutu's party). I guess since tomorrow is my birthday I can tell Bj that I really want french doors, ha (groan the house will never be done... :)!
I have been excited about my 30th birthday since I was nearly 8 and my mom turned 30. Of course what I remember and what really happened might not be lined up just right but in my eyes then nothing was cooler than the shindig my dad planned. A limo came to our house, but it was a funny limo with a sign that said my mom only looked "29 1/2". I don't even know where they went, but they didn't come home until we were asleep and my mom was dressed all glamorous. I've told Bj that story lots of times so he triple checked that I didn't want to go some where. I didn't though because I love our yard and our friend's music and thought this would be so fun.
But guess what? It was even more fun than that! Tuesday had a blast over at Donna's house with William and his grandma and aunt. She stayed their for three hours until ten, when I brought her back to the party and then she stayed up until 11 saying hello to everyone.
What can I say about my lovely husband? He put up lights, and made food, and even squeezed 30 organic lemons and brewed lavender lemonade for his favorite non-drinker (me :). Sciarrino and Sarah helped too, making signs and picking up three of my favorite desserts (peanut butter pie from Big River in Corvallis) on the sly.
I felt like the luckiest girl last night, nothing could have been better. Tomorrow I'm 30 on the 30th!
Well, we got a decidedly late summer start here and I've had no desire to welcome fall anytime soon. With temperatures looking high into the next week I don't think I'll have to. We have not necessarily been super busy, just having a good time loving life. Helping this is the fact that I really truly think I kicked my diet coke habit. I don't know what came over me really, the day before I decided to stop I bought a 12 pack! Overall we have been eating local and organic (and yummy summer fruits and veggies, yum!) so I think I knew it was coming. I just started thinking about the chemicals and processing and I snapped, quit cold turkey halfway through a can. It's crazy because I only ever quit one other time, while pregnant, and I'm not pregnant now and I can really tell this time the difference in how I feel; so much better. I eat so much less, I have so much more energy. I know that doesn't seem right since it's supposed to give you energy (and it was my only source of caffeine), but I do! I've been working out again and I'm hoping by my 30th birthday (on the 30th—cool, huh?) that I'll be at pre-baby weight (totally doable I only have 1.5 pounds to go).
Now a photo recap. We've been visiting Hazel and William:
(my favorite shot from a photo shoot I did over there).
We visited another newborn. Tuesday was a fan:
The newborn (who I'd like to point out has more hair than my 19 month old daughter) was not so sure about her:
It will be no problem getting picture of Tuesday playing with it because she love, love, loves it (that should tell you how bad I've been about snapping things around here).
Tuesday and I went Blueberry picking for Salem Neighborhood Harvest. Her second time, my third. What a great program. We pick bushes/trees that have been donated and half the harvest goes to the food bank. The other half we get to keep. I was informed by another picker that if you want 1/2 cup of blueberries a day you need 70 pounds a year! (My breakfast of late is 1 cup cereal, 1/2 cup soy milk and 1/2 cup fruit)
I would not recommend letting a toddler go nuts in a blueberry patch unless they are potty trained, I think they'd get a terrible rash... no self control. Every time I looked over she was stuffing handfuls in her mouth.
We had a play date with crew girl babies toddlers:
Soon this shot will be impossible, such busy little people! Tuesday's been growing I think, she looks as tall as other kids her age now (she was never that short though, just skinny). And I've gone through her clothes three times in the last month!
Tuesday has probably 50 signs she uses (we taught her ASL). I started writing them down, but she picks them up so quick! She also says mama, papa and nana in the sweetest little voice. Other words like Seana (our neighbor), dirt, and yes come and go. She does do a mean firetruck impersonation though.
I'll leave you with a video I shot on my iPhone during dinner, man I love this kid!
And a few notes: I updated the side bar with more dailies, updated reading list, and some fun links. If you ever want to check in between posts my twitter status is over there too (here is a direct link). I'm guessing posting will be light the rest of the summer!
I've been adding lots of stuff to the Ribbon Jar lately in anticipation of fall (and dare I say it holiday!) crafting. I am loving this super wide ric-rac so I thought it would be fun to do it around a big pillow.
I might go back around it and sew it a little closer together so just the points stick out, but I like it!
The back is a combo of vintage sheets from the swap I participated in and some kona cotton.
I am working on re-organizing the basement and I want to do a little pillow full reading area for Tuesday. I'm also thinking play kitchen and big set of blocks. Plus these awesome drawers for mama that I am picking up tomorrow. Wait... back to the sewing.
I made Tuesday this little dress from another vintage sheet (actually I cut apart a pillowcase). I used a pattern out of this book, it has so many cute little things in it!
I wanted to highlight some of our new pom pom trim (speaking of this could you please tell me what you think of how I took the pictures for the trim. I was trying something new since pom poms can't be scanned).
I found it much easier to sew on with a zipper foot. The other two ribbons are herringbone and pinstripe. Now it's almost 100 outside so I think I'm going to go back to the sewing zone (aka the basement!).
Yes we did do the back yard! Remember what it looked like before (here is the full before):
I know, right?
I love our yard!
The before looking back at our house:
and after:
And if you "zoom out"
Here is a picture standing up on that landing for our garbage/compost/recycling cans:
To the left of our small deck (more like a landing for the BBQ and to transition out of the house):
Bj made all these boxes, even this round one for our herbs:
Which is right outside my basement window, finally I have some wonderful things to look at!
The other side. My favorite parts are well, everything, but espically our "fire pit" area:
We were originally going to do an in ground fire pit, but decided it would be cheaper and safer to get an above graound pit (which we are going to get later when we have a shed, that we are going to make later, to store it in). I love how our landscaper (the awesome Guy Countryman) did the rock. The fence also turned out awesome:
We found the design in a Best of Sunset Outdoor Living and the carpenter copied the design. My neighbors went in on it and then they did the back of their fence area as well.
Isn't their yard wonderful! I can't wait until our yard is as filled in as much as this. I love that we can see their roses and greenery coming through the top of the fence.
The front yard is even starting to fill in better:
I've only had a few mishaps, including mildew on one of my rose plants:
Boo! But I looked some stuff up and I'm going to try and tackle it tomorrow.