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.

Winter Cleaning and Redecorating

The Foyer: My $50 hall tree has found its way back into my foyer, I tried to hang some hooks and a chalkboard in this space but it really became a catch all and always looked messy. So back came the hall tree and I am happy again! I put my super cute Peter Beaton beach tote on the hook to remind me that warm weather will be her again! Also in the entry is this cool photo holder that I have adorned with lots of old family photos.

I found this quilt at my favorite antique mall the other day for $11! I love using these for outdoor photos with babies/children. I placed it on top of a quilt that was my great grandmothers and even though neither one of them is perfect I love them!

The Dining Room: I needed a place for all of my white serving dishes so I displayed them in my shabby cupboard.

My sister gave me one of her paintings that she painted and did not like, I love having a super-uper talented lil sis!

I love the new blue in this room, such a serene and calm space now! Years ago it was a russet red!

I love my antique dining set, it is just petite enough for this space. I have debated about giving it a white paint job, what do you think?

I was playing with my camera and tried a new angle! I have to chuckle inside when I look around this room and my most favorite pieces in there were free!!!! Here you can see that we have 10 foot ceilings throughout the house. Even though some of the rooms are smaller they appear larger because the ceilings are tall.

I always love to go through the house in January and get rid of everything that does not have a function in our home anymore. It takes me just about all of the month to go through every closet, drawer and room. I am still dealing with the donation piles I have laying around but everything is at least organized right now and I can start fresh. Next comes the painting and then after that spring will be here and it will be time for the house to get a really good cleaning. I usually use the winter months to do these kinds of chores, we go into a hibernation mode around here in the cold temperatures so I figure if I have to stay indoors I might as well put myself to good use! I use this opportunity to re organize cupboards and drawers, and usually the furniture gets moved around a bit as well. My friends always tease me that my house is never the same place twice! Iam always trying to utilize the space I have to the best of its ability. I have limited amounts of storage so it does me no good to keep something that I don't even use when it is taking up prime real estate in my house. We have been painting lately, I had a few tables that I wanted white so I just whipped out the 'ol paintbrush and went to town and I love how they look now! We also are painting our outdated oak bathroom cabinets as well, they are getting a new white paint job as well. I love the white/cottagey feel to things and I figure I have lived with those cupboards for almost 10 years now, it is time for me to like them! I am hoping to tackle the staircase spindles this week! I will give you the grand tour. Here are some pictures from the main level of our home, I will show you the changes taking place on the other floors/rooms later. I love my new office makeover! I have been busy!