I've Been Feathering the Nest

This is where we live. All the time. We eat here, sometimes sleep here, we play Wii here, and do Tai Chi here (ok, just kidding about that part but it rhymed with Wii). Last year after my Dad passed away we painted the oak kitchen cupboards if you remember. Since then, we have been painting everything white to give our home a more cottagey vintagey feel. Our house sits on property that used to be an old pig farm so I like to keep the feel in here warm and cozy yet natural and fresh. Doesn't that just feel like an old pig farm to you? I have been thrifting alot this winter and picking up little things here and there for a dime. I have finally let myself embrace all of the things I have always loved and have come to terms with the fact that it is just "my style", and I LOVE it!! Decorating is in my blood and I am constantly re-doing something till I like it. With that being said, I finally LIKE it!! It started with white paint, my little brush has been busy, I painted our old dining room set that I kept in the basement, I am so happy with it, I have always loved white furniture but never thought we could live with it but let me tell you, it has been the best thing that I have done to bring all of my old pieces together. They might not be shaped the same but they are the same color, brings harmony to my rooms. Besides the winter has been so cold that what else can you do when you are inside all of the time but create!!!

Here is a picture of my new sink, after my Grandma passed she left each of us grandchildren a gift of money, so mine went into badly needed new sink, disposal, and faucet, since my hubby is a handy person it cost us nothing in labor.

Not sure you can see it very well in this pic with all the white outside (snow) but I used a vintage table cloths and a pair of matching pillow cases and just clipped them onto my rods in the bay window. They look so cute!

This is where it all goes down, where I create delicious meals that make my family swoon, (yeah right!) We have had our stove for over 12 years now,it was a gift from my Grandparents when we were in our first house and it is still kicking, guess it pays to buy good quality! Oh and see my calendar, that was my first find of the new year, I went into Papyrus on New Years day and it was only $6!!! Most of the pictures are worthy of framing!

This is our little haven. It is not a very large room but it is cozy. I painted the little toy chest that Mark's uncle made for Myah and am using it as a coffee table. I love pieces that can do double duty! I also reworked the mantle a bit this week. I trecked out in a foot of snow to cut some branches off of a limb that fell in my neighbor's yard, people in my neighborhood think I am crazy.

I put them in my $7 silver ice bucket from last year and they look like a million bucks! I also scored some beautiful fan coral the other day in the most unlikely spot, a tacky craft mall, this one booth had the most beautiful shells and coral dirt cheap. I love the blacks with the whites, I love the natural feel.

Ain't she purty?

Another little ditty that I have been collecting lately are old scoops. For about a dollar I have found some cool old ones. I cleaned them up real good and am using them in my jars of sugar and flour. I truly would rather have old things with character than a bunch of new things anyday.

I finally put out my old suitcases,we love to travel (especially to the beach ) and these just help reflect our passion I think. Myah told me the other day that these were hers in China, I had to laugh.

I put tiny pieces of coral underneath a little cloche.

I love family heirlooms and these books are just that. These old German Bibles were from Mark's family, I love them dearly!!! They deserve my best piece of coral to hold them up! I love this lady that I bought from my sister's tag sale, she looks so proper sitting atop all of the German Bibles.

I really have to chuckle when I look at this picture, everything cost me next to nothing, yet makes me so happy. I am pretty easy to please.

I found these at Marshall's yesterday, I love them!!! I have spied them for a few years at my favorite boutiques but they were pricey! I got 20 of them for $9, that is a good deal!!

Old photos are my obsession, always have been so when I spotted the cutest booth at an art fair last year with these tiny little pillows I just had to have them. I tucked them into a bowl and they make me smile. How hard can those be to make???

I painted this pink table white as well, I love that it has two hinged sides so I can use it in many ways if I need to. I put some of my favorite frames from Dryads Dancing on there.

Thought you might like to take a closer look. Golly it really makes me giddy for garage sale season!!!!!!

Found this cool old tool trug at a thrift store for $4, it was a cool shade of gray but it could not escape my white paint brush.

I know you are probably sick of seeing this shelf but I love walking past it every day so it deserves another shout out!

This table also got painted white, it was given to me before we were even married, don't ask me how it has lasted so long, you know how I get rid of stuff! I needed a sunny spot in my kitchen for my plants so for now it works.

These French wine jugs are the rage right now, I have found these at my local antique mall for a few dollars. Lucky me!!

This little basket holds my Grandmas collection of old wooden cooking utensils.

Ummm, I love this look!!! Whites with naturals.

Another obsession, old things. These sit on top of my fridge, along with my Great Grandmothers old butter mold. When I got money for my birthday years ago I should have bought new shoes, or makeup or clothes instead I paid $30 for the large Flour jar. I know, I am sick that way.

I had to take a picture before they disappear, two members of my family love blueberries and they don't last longer than a day around here.

The same day I bought the Flour jar I bought this scale too. Yes, with my birthday money. It had a green top and the other day I decided to paint it white too, along with my paper towel holder. Somebody come and take my paintbrush away from me please!!!!

We are leaving in a month from today for the BEACH!!!!!!!! I cannot tell you how happy that makes me, we have not had a chance in 3 years to travel and after the few years that we have had we are ready!!!! So I am loving having all of my seashells around me, getting us in the spirit!! I cannot wait to bring home some new ones from our trip!!!

I could look at them all day!!!!

This urn was from Violets Blue a few years ago, I usually have it outside but decided to bring it inside and warm it up (it was burried in snow). I am using lots of burlap lately too. Cheap and full of character, right up my alley!!!

I took lots of pics today so I will share more later!!!

Don't Go Shopping Without Your Guardian Angel

Cabin fever has set in up here in the ol north! We have had over a foot and a half of snow at my house since Monday. Now I am a Michigander, I am used to having alot of snow but this year was unusual in that we had no snow till almost mid December. And not much of it at that. But lately, geesh, we have been hammered, so much so that this little lady did not leave the house unless I absolutley had to, (ie, picking up my son from drivers ed, taking my daughter to and from preschool). The roads have been awful, it snows from sun up to sun down, I am not kidding! So I have rearranged my house AGAIN, painted just about every piece of furniture I own white, scrubbed the baseboards, doors, and trim, watched more episodes of the Bachelor, American Idol, House Hunters and Barefoot Contessa than I care to admit and I am really suffering from a serious case of "needing to get out of here!!!" I am a homebody by nature but I have seen enough of my home to last me a year at this point. So on Thursday they called for a break in the snow and it actually did not snow like they said is was going to until late that night so my hubby kicked me out WITHOUT Myah and said go have fun. I hit every one of my favorite little shops within a 15 mile radius. I was on a mission! I love downtown Plymouth and headed there first, I am always inspired when I go into Haven, their vintage pieces are soooo cool, so I hung out in there for a while and purchased an old locker bin. It was so funny because it was like all of us ladies were coming out of hibernation, we were so glad to have a sunny day without the snow blowing us in the face, it was busier in there than I have ever seen it on a weekday. I wandered around the downtown area for a while, enjoying every minute of this day. I left that area and headed into Northville to a few of my favorite consignment shops. Would you believe that I found a few items in there that were originally from Haven! My lucky day! I then proceeded to run into Costco, Panera for my new obsession that I will post about later, Target and Trader Joe's all within about 1/2 an hour. I had Dayton's bat bag in my car so unfortunately I had to cut my day short so he could have it for practice. As I was leaving I just happened to see a few helicopters flying overhead, one was a huge military type. I turned on the am radio news and it told me that there was a serious police situation in Downtown Plymouth and they had the area shut down. They mentioned all of the streets that I had just walked down as being closed. Apparently a man was walking around downtown with a gun, shooting into the ground, he shot at least 4 times and even walked into a Tea store. I was right there just an hour before hand. Literally feet from where this man was taken into custody. He apparently was mental and considered suicidal. Let's just say, I felt very uneasy when I heard this news. He was arrested in a parking ramp behind Haven. I was having a hard time finding a place to park out front and almost parked in that ramp. But something told me that it was too darn cold to walk so try to circle around and wait for a spot out front. So I did. Thankfully. God was watching over me. I told my mom about it that night and she gasped and said "Leslie, you have guardian angels watching over you", I sure do.

You see, this stuff happens to Mark and I on a regular basis. I don't know why but we are a magnet to these type of situations. Thankfully Mark is a police Lt. so I feel protected when he is with me. We always joke that we leave a path of destruction behind us. Seriously, we have driven down expressways only to find out that a semi jack knifed behind us, ( ok, more than once), we even drove through Tennesse once on our way to Florida and 2 hours later the expressway washed down the mountain leaving our friends looking for alternative routes. I sadly could go on and on! Even this past week I found our old video of Sea World and sure enough, we have video of the trainer and THE whale that were involved in that tragic accident in Orlando, Dayton was obsessed with killer whales and we paid to have Dinner with Shamu, Tillilcum was the featured whale and his trainer Dawn was working with him, I have video of him coming right up near our table. Even when we were in China adopting Myah, a day after we left out of Tokyo Japan the Koreans launched a missle over Japan. Come on already!!!!!!!! So please don't let this discourage you from being my friend, I am a very nice person and fun to be around, and I would never put you in harms way just so I can buy a piece of someone's old junk if you hung around me. I pinky swear!!!

Before you think I have some special "voodoo" powers, I want to point out that I actually do nice things for nice people, like sweet little Shannon who is having her first little tiny baby boy, she has been such a special bloggy friend so I sent her a package the other day with some things that I thought looked like her. She was kind enough to post about it today on her blog over here. (You know I am kidding, I do nice things just cause, not so someone will write something nice about me!!! Hee hee! )

P.S. I would love to "meet you" so please leave a comment so I can stalk, umm I mean visit you, just KIDDING!!! No really, I love comments and I am lonely up here in the northwoods all alone with no friends and... ok, that is a lie too, I am just desperate to interact with people can you tell!!!!!!

Doesn't get much more precious than this!

To see more of the Daddy Daughter Dance hop on over to my family blog here!

Smells like Spring

I just love the smell of hyacinth! I purchased this pretty blue hyacinth at my local grocery market the other day and every time I walk in our door I smell spring!!! Such a treat because on the other side of my door is 10 inches of snow!!!!! Come on March!!!

Feathering the Nest

I decided to change my "look" a little bit over here. First of all I loved my old style that Danielle of the Design Girl did for me. I was one of the first blogs that she ever did loooong ago and I figured it was time for a fresh new look to make the blog a bit more "me". Ya know, to go along with my whole "cleaning and simplifying " season of life. This was my first attempt at doing it on my own. I am by no means a whiz at this computer stuff. Luckily I found these free graphics over at http://www.thegraphicsfairy.com/. She has great tutorials and very easy directions so I thought I would give it a try and I love how it turned out! If you are looking for some nice vintage artwork for your blogs or projects go check her out!

Happy Chinese New Year!!! Happy Valentine's Day!!

There is alot of celebrating going on around our house today!! First of all, being that we have a Chinese daughter we continue her traditions for her and celebrate the Chinese New Year or Spring Festival. It is something that she really looks forward to! We decorate our home with couplets on each side of our door, we have oranges and tangerines in bowls, we hand out red envelopes with money to the kiddos and we always eat some special Chinese dishes and Myah wears her silk dresses that we bought for her in China. I love keeping this tradition alive for her. We have a very special Chinese friend who always remembers Myah during the Chinese holidays, the other day she gave Myah a beautiful red heart box filled with 3 porcelain boxes painted with pink flowers and they were filled with special Chinese jade jewelry. We are always so touched by her generosity.

Of course we LOVE Valentine's Day around here too. Sadly, we had a snow day on Wednesday when Myah was supposed to have her party , the snow day paired with the kid's mid-winter break moves her party till next Wednesday, she was bummed! But the kids loved the snow day!! My sweet hubby has to work this weekend so there is not much in the special date night department for us but we did go out for dinner the other night. I plan on making cupcakes tomorrow with the kids, ya know, sweets for my sweeties! I hope you all have a special day, I know we will! Gung Hay Fat Choy!
The Lunar New Year dates from 2600 BC, when the Emperor Huang Ti introduced the first cycle of the Chinese zodiac.
Because of cyclical lunar dating, the first day of the year can fall anywhere between late January and the middle of February. On the Chinese calendar, 2010 is Lunar Year 4708.
On the Western calendar, the start of the New Year falls on Sunday, February 14, 2010 — The Year of the Tiger. This year, the date has special significance since it also happens to fall on Valentine's Day making it a doubly auspicious day to celebrate in the West.
Happy New Year Chinese zodiac2010 Chinese horoscope New Year FoodsNew Year Recipes
If you were born in 914, 1926, 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998 or 2010 - you were born under the sign of the tiger. Like the tiger, you are one of the most caring and thoughtful signs in the Chinese zodiac. You have a lot to say on the best way to right society's wrongs, and quite capable of defending children, friends, and loved ones against all enemies.
For the tiger in 2010, any recent setbacks or obstacles can be overcome, so look forward to a year in which to really shine, either personally or professionally.
Famous people born under the sign of the Tiger? They include Emily Bronte, Sheryl Crow, Tom Cruise, Leonardo DiCaprio, Emily Dickinson, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Jay Leno, Karl Marx, Marilyn Monroe, Marco Polo, Beatrix Potter, Queen Elizabeth II, and Jon Stewart.

Dayton'a' 500

Dayton starts drivers ed today... boo hooo. My baby is growing up! He is just thrilled and I am a wee bit nervous. This is huge! What a strange feeling knowing that my little boy will be driving down our local streets behind the wheel with someone else in the car besides Mark or I . I feel very confident in the company that we chose, Mark used to "moonlight" as a drivers ed instructor at this place and we at one time owned our own company. But there is just something about letting your child operate a moving motor vehicle that leaves me unsettled. And to top it off, we are supposed to get our biggest snow storm of the year this week. Yikes! I am hoping that they will not put these young drivers out on those roads! We have always called Dayton "Daytona 500" since he was a little guy, lets just hope he doesn't drive like that! I am excited for him to start this phase of his life and I am sure eventually I will be glad that he can run himself everywhere, sometimes I feel like painting my car yellow and charging for rides! I just can't believe that he is now old enough to start driving, time flies people, enjoy your sweetie pies, they grow up so fast!

Office Re-do

Before:
This is how it looked before, dark and rich. Not me. I have since decided to listen to my inner voice and "lighten things up"! After: Just a coat of paint and some moving around of furniture in the house and I have my office/craft area. We painted it the same shade of blue as the dining room since you see both of these rooms the minute you walk into our front door.

I found this tiered stand at HomeGoods, man I love that place! Of course crayons are a staple in our house so they got their own little jar. And see that calendar, well I saw it in Wisconsin shopping with my friend Sherry and she sent it to me after we arrived back home! I love it!!

I do need to get some window treatments in here but oh well, someday. I like to keep all of our special photo albums close to the front door, ya know, in case something bad happens. Trust me, my good friend had a house fire and the firemen told her they could go in and get one thing out for her, she had always left a tote of photos in her dining room by the door, she was able to tell them exactly where they were and they were saved! I keep a box with special adoption stuff for Myah in there too.

I need to update my pics of the kiddos! I think I need all white frames in here.

I had these fabric bins around the house and I needed a cheap no cost solution for a cohesive look on the shelves. So I put them all together in one place and they worked!

This lamp started everything! I loved it and it finally went on clearance at HG's so I bought it not knowing where I would put it. But I knew it was my taste and used it as my inspiration piece. This was the beginning of my beachy feel to the house.

I don't usually like alot of clutter but I needed a way to keep all of our school supplies and crafty items together in one place. I was fed up with having to go down to the basement or a different closet everytime I needed something. This works perfectly for our family.