My favorite time of year...

.....The Fair, pumpkin-everything, sweaters, raking leaves, chilly breezes, my birthday, and Halloween!

We are currently taking down a horrible, no-good, rotten wooden garage in our backyard. Soon it will be a new spot for shootin' hoops, a pecan tree rope swing, and the perfect driveway for roller skatin'.

Many wonderful activities to do with the kids : )

Around the House Today...

Soaking Up the Sounds of Life

Being a Highly Sensitive Person (and an INFJ personality type) leaves my mind hyper-stimulated and full. Sometimes I need to hide in my room and collect all my thoughts to quiet my mind. Lately I've been learning to embrace this gift and enjoy the world I've been given the opportunity of belonging.

I soak up all the details of my world using all six (yes, SIX!) senses. Everyone should stop and smell the roses, right?! Here are some sights/sounds I noticed this past week: {or at least the ones I remembered to write down!}

Driving down a street; sounds of hammering coming from an open garage door. I wonder what miraculous piece of work he is crafting with his tools or what he might be fixing... a wooden dining chair? I know ours need fixing. Maybe he's renovating something in his home and is working at a steady pace towards completion...?


The smell of a curling iron heating up; the steam as it leaves my hair strands.

Longing for the crisp, cool air of Autumn... only to be greeted by 90 degree humidity and heat that still smells like summer. 

Sitting idle at a traffic light; various types of music floating about in the air. What a sweet luxury it is to be able to listen to music of your choice when you want to!

Chocolate Chip Waffles baking in the oven, leaving our home smelling like freshly baked deserts. Mmmmmm, who needs a toaster or toaster oven when the range permeates the entire house? Makes the idea of the extra household small appliance a bit of a joke, don't you think? 

What do you love to soak up?

Paint, Paint, and more Paint

Here's a floor plan of our home, in all its boxy ranchy glory! And a list of current colors:

Living Room - Custom mix of Sherwin Williams' Accessible Beige with Behr's Gobi Desert

Kitchen - Behr's Gobi Desert on the walls; Olympic's Sprig of Ivy on the cabinets  

Hallway - Behr's Swiss Coffee

Hall Bathroom - Sherwin Williams' Comfort Gray

Madeline & Rebecca's Room: Behr's Princess Ivory

Oliver & Meadow's Room: Sherwin Williams (mistint) custom manual match similar to Buff

Master Bedroom: Sherwin Williams' Rainwashed

Master Bath: Sherwin Williams (unknown) dark gray similar to Gauntlet Gray

First things first: I've painted each room at least twice already. And I am still not pleased. Let's not talk about how many tries it took to get my twin girls' room up to par... too embarrassing!

Apparently it took me a while to understand the reason why I didn't like our paint colors. It's not about the paint, it's about what's in the room.  {Total epiphany, right?}

(credit http://alittlefragile.tumblr.com/)

I suppose anyone could have the prettiest, frothiest, creamiest warm white on a wall, but if you have no furniture or accessories or style, then what is the point?

This year begins an evolution of our style through accessories, furniture, and new paint colors. We will try new ideas and if they don't work, then they don't work.

We're taking it slowly and always remembering that it doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful : )

{Thanks Nester!}

Five Hundred Bucks, Buster

Our kitchen was a Hot Mess! If you've ever lived in or owned a 1950s ranch home, you would know they come with built-in knotty pine cabinets. They're constructed entirely of pine and tend to last much longer than newer cabinetry manufactured today. However, cheap knotty pine + old varnish = orange-y rustic 1950s cabinets. {Yuck!}

Luckily for us, they were painted before we moved in. Unfortunately, they were horribly painted. Like, with drips, cheap paint, no sanding, and NO primer. The knots in the wood started coming through months after we moved in. 

The paint was plain old latex satin; which is great for walls, but had no durability when it came to heavy-duty use on our cabinets.  And don't get me started on the 12 inch floor tile that were our counters and backsplash.

So, it took us two years before we were able to make any real changes in the hearth of our home and it was worth the wait!

{I know our pictures aren't the best, but you gotta work with what you got!}

Here is a lovely Before & After Fantastic Foursome I whipped up with that Picmonkey bidness today:

I do wish we had better photographs, and maybe I should whip up a little floor plan one day {'cause I just love whipping up things.} Basically we went from a G-shaped to an L-shaped configuration, which really opened up our space!

Before we would play the super fun games of "get in each others' ways and rub butts" and the ever-popular "hurry up and get out of here before we have to spend one more second of our lives in this hellhole."

Here are some more iPhone pictures of our kitchen:

- I converted four of our too shallow-to-be-useful drawers and filled them up with baskets -

-We even added dollar store contact paper to our drawers - 

-Turned a corner blind cabinet into open shelving for cookbooks and tchotchkes -

- Upper baskets are for towels while plastic wrap, foil, and dishwasher supplies are in the bottom -

Lil' bit of whimsical bling, left over from Meadow's Birthday party last week.

So that's that. : )

More to come. Until then, know this: there are real-world, real-life budget makeovers out there.

Ciao!

Who you rollin' with?

There is so much social media going on these days! Between instagram, pinterest, facebook, and twitter, I feel like there is just not enough room for me to try to even start blogging now.

{Don't you kind of miss the good ole days when it was enjoyable to scroll around in your favorite blogs and dig up treasures of your own? Nowadays it's like BAM in my face, even though I just want to stay updated so I can roll out with the cool kids in the blogosphere.}

 I must start writing now so I can get out of this horrendous bubble I'm stuck in and meet other women out there like me!

found here.

So I started this blog for many reasons, and talking about my life is one of them. I'm hoping to connect with someone (anyone?) that I can share my life experiences with. {Don't we all crave the intimacy of connecting with people?}

So that's that. For now. I truly enjoy writing and would love to keep a journal of our lives, but I keep feeling like it is so hard to pick up in the middle when there is always so much history! That will come in time, without a doubt.

: )

Day 19: My Five Favorite

Blogs and why they are my favorite.
{So hard to choooooose!!!}

1. Young House Love

Been following these guys since 2008! I remember when they were This Young House! I followed John and Sherry through their amazing makeovers on the cheap, her pregnancy with Clara, and now through the purchase of their third house. (That's loyalty, folks.)

I love them because they're just like you and me. They're the people next door; the couple standing next to you in line at the store. They're down-to-earth, make great choices, and have their stuff together. You can follow along in their writing while smiling, laughing, or relating to them. And Sherry loves hip-hops musics like my husband and I! (woop woop!)

I'm sure they're on the top of everyone's list!

2. Apartment Therapy

Only because I first discovered them back in 2007 when I realized my passion in life was interior design! These days they don't have much content (in my opinion) and have to compete with Pinterest and other blogs... but I flock to them because they host the best reader-submitted contests. Smallest coolest apartment/home contest, color contests, the Homies, and contests for children's rooms too!

Even though I've never purchased an Apartment Therapy book, I have always wanted their Eight-Step Home Cure book. Those eight steps were like a Bible to me when I was living in a bedroom in my mother's home, which is a story for another time. : )

3. Making It Lovely

Oh, the lovely and talented Nicole Balch! I've been following her around Chicago-Land since I first discovered her purple living room on flickr. She was running her stationary business, Pink Loves Brown, then. I must be fiercely loyal to blogs {or people?} because I, too, followed Nicole through both of her pregnancies! I remember when Nicole and her husband purchased their house and moved out of their apartment.

4. 6th Street Design School

A.KA. Kirsten Krason Interiors. Love this girl! I've been following along for a few years now and recently she's been amping up the activity because of her recent decision to take on less design clients and blog more! She opened my eyes up to what I call "real design." Real Design is like designer stuff you see in House Beautiful magazine or in lonny magazine. Expensive, but gorgeous with only-open-to-the-trade fabrics, beautiful home staging with real budgets, and using designer pieces in her own home is what I like most about her. And her Feature Fridays! I flock every Friday morning to see what gorgeous home she has chosen!
(I also love how she sweetly named her new daughter 'Jane.' It's so classic!)

5. The Cavendar Diary

The Cavendar Boys. Love 'em! I recently stumbled upon them sometime last Fall and haven't stopped reading since! I was researching a Martha Stewart paint color when I happened upon their world of Navajo blankets, rustic home solutions, vintage collections, Western History, and amazing style. They're so awesome that if you were to comment on their blog, they will actually say something back! (And I say a collective "they" because both Jamie and James write on the blog.)

When I'm following along in their blog I am so enamored by the wealth of knowledge and style they ooze. Their pictures all have the same tone/feeling and it's almost as if they've teleported me from breezy, blue Charleston with our beaches and flip-flops to Dallas, Texas.... where the steaks are huge, the boots are leather, the plants are prickly, and the colors are red, black, and tan. Ahhhhhhh.

Maybe it's their amazing step-by-step tutorials. Or their taste in fabrics and clothing. Or maybe it's their charming lifestyle {I think they're super cute together with Harley, their dog.}

Or it could be that it's nice to get away from Charleston and pretend I'm somewhere else, and that, to me, is what makes these daily journals so wonderful. These aren't just my most "favorite" blogs, but also bloggers I strive to be like everyday in my life. People that I would be so completely honored to actually meet in real life! And I respect them and their opinions!

After years of following someone's life, you begin to absorb them into your own, even when you live hundreds of miles away and they don't even know you exist.

{I have seriously had dreams where I'm hanging out with Young House Love. Really. And we're just talking about ranch houses or something. That's why you shouldn't catch up on posts right before bed!}

So that's that, folks, because apparently I have much to say about my most admired and favorite people that write blogs!

: )

Day 14

What makes me happy? 

Here are ten things:

Coffee

Good Music

My children's artwork

Notes from my husband

Smiling Faces

A full night's rest

Encouragement

Shopping

Painting

Taking photographs

{And Dancing and Sparkly Things too!}

via

May the Thirteenth

Is Issue a Public Apology Day!
I've been following along with Jenni in her Blog Every Day in May Challenge.
I have always wanted to be a blogger, but I allowed Fear and Doubt to stamp my ambitions.

So here I am, doing my best, learning the tools of the trade, and putting myself to the test!

I'd like to start a glorious new week with Fresh Flowers! Yesterday was Mother's Day and I received the best flowers from my daughters! Even though the sun isn't shining, I decided to take some pictures. : )

And this is why everything in my life converges and works out perfectly. I was going to apologize for my photographs before I looked at today's topic!

We have fresh flowers on our dresser, in our bedroom, and also on our entry table. I wanted to apologize for my crooked photograph, crooked lampshade, and crooked house. Our house is over 62 years old and the floors are a bit wonky. I inherited that thirty year-old lamp from my Grandfather... so yes, the shade is wonky too.

But I'm not going to apologize. I love our weird house and that lamp has been with me since before my Grandfather passed away. I am only apologizing for my terrible photo-taking abilities and lack of natural lighting! : )

{Today also seems to be Use Lots of Capital Letters Day. Sorry 'bout that too.}

I Miss...

Having a Job. I know, I know, most women would kill to not have to work. I get to stay home and plan my day according to my children's needs! I can (almost) do anything I want! Right?!

Wrong. I am unhappy and constantly feel unfulfilled. I want to work and have a career. I am currently a part-time student at the local technical college earning my associate's degree. I want to graduate and find a secure job. I want to wear trousers and blouses and feel like I have a reason to wash my hair and paint my face every day. 

I want to hang out with other women and discuss topics that don't include my ex-husband or poop. I want to pretend I'm young and irresponsible and smoke cigarettes with no regard to lung and throat cancer. Eh, then again, maybe not.

I want to miss my home, my husband, my kids; I long to sink into my sofa at the end of the day.

I know I'll get there eventually and I am enjoying all the extra time I graciously get to spend with my little ones and my husband. {And I missed so much of my girls' life when I was working, so I am cherishing every moment of my children's lives now.} 

But when I do start working again... I know I'll miss staying home. : )

via

Something Embarrassing

HA! You're talking about an overly self-conscious, hypersensitive, neurotic person. Everything I say or do is embarrassing! My most embarrassing moments? When I'm over-analyzing events/words/conversations that have already taken place and I think about how lame I sounded. Or how I didn't convey my ideas well enough and looked dumb.

I need to do better...
Not only am I working on my anxieties, but I am working on my self-esteem.

{I'm embarrassed for anyone to know how ridiculous my social phobias are.}

And with that said, it is Friday! Time to let our hairs down and enjoy the spring breeze!

found at weheartit

A Moment in my Day

Day 9: It's after school, my rug rat is hanging out with the Big Sissies while one 

finishes homework and the other plays fun computer puzzle games. 

I love our Life.

A Small Piece

Of advice to anyone out there buying a home: investigate your neighbors' pets. Be nosy and find out what kind of pets they own.
Do they have three tomcats, whom will spray your entire yard, your automobiles, your children's toys, and your doormat, every day?
 Do they own ferocious pit bull terriers that will shake your own cats to death in from of you and your children one morning before school?

Seriously, though. If I had known our nice, older neighbors to the left had two terriers in their backyard, we wouldn't have chosen our home. We would have gone with our second choice! We lost two cats to them, and unfortunately so, nothing kills the merry high of home ownership faster than burying your beloved felines in your new garden.

 So always check out your neighbors' pets before you decide on a home! : )

 {Woohoo! Two posts in one day, can I do it? Can I finish the rest of the month?!?}

Every Day in May

And I'm already 7 days behind! This is the perfect opportunity to get myself in the habit (doesn't it take thirty days to form a habit?) of writing. And learn to leave behind the fear of imperfection and my social anxieties. It's time to take action and start living my life the way I want to!

Whew, I think my declarations came off way more enthusiastic than I intended. : )
{And I may or may not try to catch up with the first week that I missed... baby steps.}

Day 7: The thing(s) you're most afraid of.

I am afraid to speak the truth and tell people what's really on my mind. I am afraid to have a voice.

I am afraid that one day my ex-husband will eventually break me down.
{Except that I'm growing stronger every day and his power over me is weakening.}

That my children will not have fresh drinking water when they're my age. That my mom will die too young and I'll have to learn how it feels to really grieve. That I'll never overcome my social anxieties and be stuck in a vicious cycle of remorse and regret because of all the things I never did or said.

"Fear is such a weak emotion, that's why I despise it

We scared of almost everything, afraid to even tell the truth

So scared of what you think of me, I'm scared of even telling you..."

-Lupe Fiasco

Bustin' Out

I don't mean in that way, I mean as in "I made my first purchase ever from One Kings Lane and she's on her way!!" 

I'm talking about a certain 17 inch distressed damsel, check her out:

Ohhhh yes. Happy Super Early Mother's Day to me! 

Flutter Flies

There is nothing I love more than spotting the same items in other bloggers' homes! Especially homes that have completely different styles. Ironically, these are two blogs I stumbled upon very recently. Oh, I love little coincidences in life...!

Urban Outfitters' Butterfly Specimen Poster is quite lovely and I wouldn't mind having one of my own.

Via

Found at operation paper cut:

Via

{Don't you just love that butterfly net too?!}

And over here at this is not a rough draft:

Via

{I spy a couple of Dear Lillie-inspired pillows too!}

So long, Wrought Iron

You were amazingly Dark and Handsome, but unfortunately, you consumed every last bit of light that entered our Bedroom-Cave. We bid you farewell.