Kitchen projects

We did a couple of little projects in the kitchen over the weekend. Painted a fun BIG chalkboard (ok, I admit I am on the chalkboard band wagon...but they really are so cute). And put up some curtains on the kitchen windows.

So, in case you were wondering what we did Friday night (and a little bit of Saturday morning)...here ya go.

Kitchen wall before.

And after. We painted a rectangle with chalkboard paint (3 coats) and put up leftover white trim around it.

And here is the kitchen window area before. I have been looking for a bay window curtain rod for a while. The only place I found one was at Bed, Bath & Beyond - but it was really expensive for all the parts and pieces.

So here is what we did. Christopher bought ten feet of PVC pipe, and 2 little 120 degree connectors. We (well, he) cut it in three pieces to fit our window. We bought a short window rod at Ross for $5 just for the 2 end pieces - and spray painted everything silver to match.

End result = bay window rod for about $8. Pretty cool, huh? I honestly don't think you can tell it is PVC pipe. And the white curtains are cheapos from target.

And on a complete side note, check out this happy face. This is what we are seeing more and more of at meal time. She ate pimento cheese for the first time this weekend and LOVED it.

Friday Picks...

It's that time again. Football season officially begins next week. My sweet husband is organizing his infamous "Friday Picks". This year it is going to be much easier to play...he is basically sending out an online survey where you just select your picks from a drop down menu instead of having to download an excel spreadsheet. If you or your husbands want to play (he probably emailed most of your husbands), then send him an email at cnewman15 @ gmail . com

I think I mostly posted this as an excuse to put up this super cute picture that my friend Kitty took from last football season. Ash was 6 weeks old here. Too sweet.

Greeting cards & gift bags

I have been thinking about decorating Ashlyn's playroom (aka the sunroom) for a while now. A few weeks ago, Christopher built this handy little shelf in the room to store some of her toys. Here is a picture of the "before"...

I found the cutest cards and gift bags at Pier 1 that I used for artwork above the shelves. Seriously, could these be any cuter?

I just taped the cards/bags onto scrapbook paper...instant art. And perfect for the playroom!

The adorable canvas bins are from Kohls. They ended up costing $8 total after a Kohls coupon...$2 each is not too shabby!

10 months old

Double digits today for Miss Ashlyn. Months that is.

She is eating some food with actual interest. Most of the time anyway. She does not really love to eat in the mornings. But then again if someone got me out of bed, strapped me in a highchair, and offered me cold applesauce mixed with baby oatmeal, I probably would not want to eat either.

She loves to laugh. And lick furniture, car keys, and cell phones. She does have lots of fun toys...but perfers wooden spoons, nightlights, computer cords, my blackberry, electric outlets, and the window blinds.

Could that face be any sweeter? I know those round baby cheeks won't last forever...but I am loving them for now.

Using whatcha got...

We are in the process of cleaning through stuff...clothes, closets, our garage...you get the picture. I love decluttering and organizing. I really do. I find it truly theraputic. I love that we took an entire truck load of stuff to Goodwill this weekend.

I found a little "treasure" in our guest bedroom closet Friday night that was begging me for a makeover. A really ugly brown and gold mirror. On Saturday, we used that mirror to whip up a new little piece of "art" for Ashlyn's nursery. I painted it white, then we added some maternity pictures that my wonderful friend Amy took while I was pregnant with Ashlyn. And that equals a free and fast art decor change for our little sweet pea's room.

So the moral of the story...you can still do fun little projects around the house without spending any money. We like to call it..."using whatcha got."

Hanging on

This is how my baby has been riding in her car seat the past few weeks. With one hand gripping each side. She gets mad at me when I have to take her hands off to put her arm through the strap. I gently explain she can resume her grasp as soon as I have her secured in the seat. And you better believe she does.

And how funny that she rode the same way in the shopping cart at the grocery store today...THE ENTIRE TIME WE WERE THERE (Dear Mom, I promise I wiped the cart down before I put her in it).

yes, it's true

She ate an entire container of pears last night. The whole thing. Miss "I will scream and cry every time you try to feed me" actually opened her mouth and let us SPOON FEED BABY FOOD to her. She smiled. She giggled. She even licked the lid when she was finished.

Honestly, I was not even planning on trying any more baby food. I am not sure what motivated me to buy the pears. Sure, it was kind of messy. But I count last night as a success. No looking back now. She won't have to drink formula until she is 5. What a way to start the weekend.

I wonder why she finally decided to eat? Who wants to bet that Christopher will say it is because she was wearing her South Carolina Gamecock bib?

A lesson learned

Let me tell you a little story about our ever evolving living room. You see, when we first moved into our new house, I fell in love with this fabric. I bought it. I made pillows. I was so excited to use it that I don't think I even cared if I had anything else that would go with it.

Then, I fell in love with this red/rust colored chair because I thought it went with the fabric. After that, I fell in love with this yellow rug THAT DID NOT GO WITH EITHER OF THE FIRST TWO ITEMS. And I still bought it.

Can you see the dilema here? I started buying random things one by one, and ended up with lots of things that did not really go together. I discovered that I am much better off finding a few main things that I really like (like a sofa and rug) and then accessorizing around them. Moral of the story, I don't need to design a room from scratch around fabric for throw pillows.

Let's be honest. The red chair was a stretch. I mean, I think it would work great in a room without a yellow rug. I was just so desperate to find something that matched the pillows I made. And it sort of matched. So I bought it.

Here are a few more "before" pictures. I am not sure how I would exactly describe it. But too much brown, and the chair kind of sticks out like a sore thumb.

So what did we do? Built white bookshelves with a cute neutral yellow fabric backdrop to keep things light and airy...had someone make a slipcover for the chair (I am not that talented unfortunately), added a couple new pillows, re-arranged a few of the furniture pieces, and Christopher and I also painted a canvas for the wall (again, it may be a stretch but it was much cheaper than buying something new). And now we have a much lighter, fresher feeling space that I am pretty happy with. If money were no object, there are a few more things that I would do. But right now, I am happy with the almost finished product.

A few random thoughts for today...

I am so tired...and so overwhelmed with work right now. I am sitting in my hotel room with a billion emails to respond to - and then thought, hey, it's been a while since I wrote on our blog. So naturally, I thought I would make the best use of my time and write a little update. I should be answering work emails. I should be exercising. I should be thinking about something healthy to eat for dinner tonight. But instead, I have been surfing the internet and thinking about ideas for decorating Ashlyn's playroom/sunroom.

My sweet friend Ashley and I sometimes talk about how we get so overwhelmed that we just freeze. I am frozen right now. Not so much that I cannot look at cute playroom ideas online, but just enough that I cannot bring myself to respond to work emails. Make sense? And the truth is, her playroom is just fine right now. But I hate not having a little "home" project to work on. So I am trying to figure out what else I can get my husband to build.

Speaking of my sweet husband, I need to give him a shout out...

Ashlyn, when you look back and read this one day, you should know that you have the best daddy in the world. A tree fell on a power line at his office today. And he got to leave for a couple of hours while they restored electricity. Do you know what he did? He drove to your babysitters house, picked you up, and spent his free time playing with you at home. He could have gone to lunch with the guys, played a round of frisbee golf, gone to Home Depot...a million things...BUT HE CHOSE YOU! He chose to spend time with his most beautiful baby girl. What a guy. He is the best daddy and husband in the world.