the air is getting cooler

 

and the view is getting better.

For some reason you can't see our beloved islands during a good portion of the summer/when it gets warmer.  

In winter, the views around town get even that much more spectacular. 

Those peeks of blue that we have -- hands down the best part of this house for me.

new digs

Someone told me moving is the 3rd most stressful thing after the death of a loved one, and a divorce.  

I believe it.

There are still quite a few boxes, but we're in and living here.

We have more room, we have another bathroom, and I have an office (whoop whoop).  We are really excited.  A little overwhelmed, but excited.

Vintage Rugs and Yellow Labs

I keep thinking I'm going to "catch up" with my blogging.  I haven't chronicled my adventures in Paris with Katie, the holidays, Mo on a rip-stick, Katie playing the bass, and now clarinet, Mo joining a club soccer team ... none of it.  It's just so daunting when I think about it.

So, I'm just going to post when I can and it will probably be more simple things -- you, know how I wish things were.

Today my new kitchen rug arrived.  I had to lock the dog and cat up in another room while I was trying to get the rug situated on top of the rug pad because they kept laying on it.

I like it.  Fitz seems to like it.  I hope everyone else does too, although, it's from Turkey so more than likely I will not be returning it even if they have objections...

the breakup

Mo officially moved out of The Purple Room this weekend leaving KT behind, and a little saddened. KT likes company.  KT likes action.  KT likes to be around people.

Mo likes her space and solitude, and is more than ecstatic about the move.  The Purple Room looked like this before the move ...

Mo takes after her dad -- neat, fastidious, organized.  

KT and I are, well ... none of those things. 

All of this leaves me out in the cold office-wise.  I'm currently working on the dining room table which provides for a terrible ergonomic situation for me (I'm short, the table is too high, etc., etc.).  However, we do have some plans in the works which we'll hopefully get completed sooner rather than later!

a few of my favorite things

It's easy to amass kitchen utensils in your drawer(s), some which never see the light of your actual kitchen.

What I love is when you find a kitchen utensil -- something not of the basic wooden spoon variety -- you start using it and think, how did I ever live without this?

My top 3 kitchen utensils from top to bottom: 1) Pastry scraper: except I don't use it for pastry, I use it to assist in picking up things I've chopped off my cutting board; 2) Garlic peeler: I have owned every type of garlic peeler and this is only one that really works; 3) Scooper: We do a lot of muffins and cookies in this house and this thing gets regular use.

My runner up for this list is my Silpat which I use at least once a week.

What are your top kitchen utensils? Always looking for something new to fall in love with.

random wednesday

If I had my druthers:

blue chairs for my dining room

Filter for my new 50mm lens

Red Funkis clogs

Calcutta marble counter tops (totally not practical, but just love the way they look)

quarantined

Maddie has been sick for a couple of days now. While she seems to be recovering, she's at the stage where she sounds like she's a pack-a-day smoker.

So, we're laying low.

We've taken to "beautifying" the house today.

We filled my latest finds with flowers from our garden.

The hallway plant died, so we split off a bit of a plant that my friend Laura gave me which was doing really well outside.

We'll see how it does inside.

It's grey outside, so I'm thinking baking will be in order next...

it's loud in hear right now

While I do enjoy thrifting, flea markets and the sort, garage sales usually aren't my thing because -- well, to be frank I'm not a morning person.

Last weekend we somehow ended up at a garage sale and on a whim, bought a piano.

Now, while the purchase was definitely a spur-of-the-moment thing, a handful of conversations had taken place about getting one. We knew exactly where we'd put it, etc.

We had been thinking about how to incorporate music in a fun way into our house. All the stars aligned that morning: Papa was with us, the price was right, it's perfect size for our tiny house, the guy selling it had a truck and was uber-willing to bring it over.

I need to get it tuned, but so far I really like having it. I've been fingering out old sonatas that have been lingering in my mind for years.

I put little post-its on the keys so Katie can finger out some tunes.

But I can't seem to play without ending up with sticky notes all over my fingers. I don't want to put actual stickers on the keys, so I may have to brainstorm another solution.

Needless to say the Little Wickies love it.

Would love to hear any tips you might have regarding how you incorporate music into your family's lives, if you teach your kids music yourselves, etc.

project: blue desk

Awhile back I found this on a curb when I was out on a run.

It had been sitting in the garage but now that the girls are in the same room and we have playroom/office I thought it was time to start working on it so we could bring it inside.

Step 1: sanding.

Don't call CPS on me, but I can totally see why little dexterous hands are good for certain kinds of labor.

Katie was awesome at sanding the small crevices.

Katie learned that sanding is a lot of work.

We sanded until we made the whole desk look like the bottom part of this picture.

Step 2: taping and spraying with a rust-covering base.

Step 3: painting. Katie picked a light blue.

Step 3: varnish and... voila!

Now Katie and I both have desks in the playroom/office and she is one happy camper.

What are the odds I'm going to find another desk on the street for Maddie?

a tale of four night stands

Two things have prompted this post.

1) I've been playing with my new speedlite.

2) I like nightstands. I know peculiar, right? I feel they are tell-tale about the person. Maybe I'll make a coffee table book on nightstands someday.

What's on your nightstand?

Here are ours...

We all have painted rocks on our nightstands. I painted the two for the girls, and Katie painted the two for us.

Mine is the most cluttered -- but if you know me well it will make complete sense to you.

end of summer geography

We wanted to paint the outside of our house this summer.

While we've painted numerous interior rooms in three different homes, we've never done exterior painting.

Let me tell you, prep work is a ... (female dog).

Papa is doing the most of the work. The first day we sat there with putty knives and scraped loose paint off the house.

There was a lot of loose paint.



Me: Look I'm making Germany!

Papa: I've got Illinois over here.

This project is taking a lot longer than we thought.

Make me feel better, what home projects are you working on?

find

I was out for a run this morning and I saw this out on a curb.


I have no idea what I'm going to do with it, but I fell in love with it.

What do you think? Paint it? Refinish it?

It's so little and just like I remember from elementary school with the top opening and everything!

We'll see how happy Papa is with my new find.

At least it was free, right?

disgusting the few friends we have

I'm a self-proclaimed DIY-er.

This means I do things myself. It does not mean I do them well.

A couple of weeks ago I gave our ledges a fresh coat of paint.

before

Last week I started spray-painting the shutters black.

I called our friend Ray who is a professional painter to ask a quick question. He immediately started laying into me about how I was doing it all wrong.

He is a very passionate person and I daresay can get a little rilled up at times.

An encapsulated version of our conversation went like this:

"You're what? With spray paint, why?! What kind of spray paint?!"

"Um, the can says wood, metal and more."

"Ugh, I'm getting nauseous hearing about all this."

after

Recently the crest from Katie's cape starting falling off. (Yes, we still have this cape -- and mask I might add).

So I pulled out my pathetic-excuse-for-a-sewing kit and set to work.

Suffice it to say, I am a terrible seamstress.

Hey Miyo, does this make you want to throw up in your mouth a little?

And, no that's not extra thread, that's a knot which I somehow created. If I cut it off, I fear the stitching would probably all come out.

muy caliente

I feel like I've been sweating day and night for awhile now. With no A/C we've been spending a lot of time outside doing things like this...

and this...

If we didn't live by the beach I don't know what we'd do.

We've spent a lot of time outside with our new patio set eating dinner on it every night for the past week.

I've gotten some inquiries about what I did for the seat cushions. I did end up making some with the help of my friends Miyo (who helped me find my way through a fabric store and brandished a sewing machine for the project) and Laura (who gave me extra batting). However, being an extreme novice I made them too small.

When you put the stuffing in the pillow it makes it smaller -- duh.

Oh well, when these wear out -- hopefully not for awhile as I bought Sunbrella material -- I'll be sure to measure the fabric a couple of inches bigger in diameter!

Good thing we have some little butts in our family.

Shorted again

Last week I was one can of spray paint short when trying to finish my patio furniture. I frustratingly had to trudge back to Home Depot to get another can.

This week when I was staining the fence I was once again one can short -- arg!

What was most annoying was if I had about a 1/2 cup more of stain I would have been able to finish all the cutting in which would have left only rolling to do -- oh well.

Guess I'll be heading back to Lowes this week.

before...

after...

If I could only sew

The green patio furniture I bought at the flea market last month is now officially turquoise.

We've already started to have our snacks -- and today, our lunch -- on it. I'm finding the whole not-needing-to-sweep-afterwards a big plus.

Now I need seat cushions. I'm thinking yellow or orange -- or maybe I'll just find the perfect print somewhere.

Any ideas? Know any good tutorials on easy-to-make pillows? (Stress on the easy-to-make part.)

The Magnificient Seven

Happy to report all seven of our tadpoles remained alive throughout their residency with the Little Wickies.


We hiked back out to return them only to find the water completely dried up.

Papa had to hike up the rocky riverbed to find some water while Katie, Maddie and I waited.Katie was obsessed with writing her name on the trail on the way back. We must have stopped at least 10 times to perform this task.

Highlight of the trip: seeing some horses . Katie was a little intimidated at their size up close.

Later we wished our friends Ellie, Lara and baby Luca well before their extended trip to Italy.

And what better to share with friends but some cupcakes.

Miyo and I also hit up the Flea Market at the fairgrounds.

One of my finds...

I think I'm going to paint it either a soft yellow or a bright light maybe even turquoise blue.

Can't decide. What do you think?

Alone Time

I found myself with a couple of hours and no children on Friday. I was so giddy I didn't know what to do with myself.

Do I clean my floor? Do I mow the lawn? Do I nap?

In the end, I went antiquing.

Let me caveat this by saying, I'm not a real antique shopper. I just like looking at things.

I ended up buying two little metallic trays. I had Maddie's room in mind which is green and yellow (maybe I'll snap some shots of it someday). This first one works perfectly and we now have it on her dresser with her lotion and hand cleaner on it.

This second one will be finding a home in the girls' kitchen.


I had thought about getting a massage, but I'm really glad I didn't. I spent way less money, and am very pleased with my little finds.

$4 -- metallic tray

$3 -- metallic tray

$4.75 -- an incredibly rich ham & cheese croissant at the bakery

------------

one wonderful little outing

Our New Pillow

So what do you do when you covet the hand-crafted look and feel of things but are hopelessly untalented?

Answer: You enter blog drawings and hope you will win something you can't ever dream of making.

I have entered my fair share of drawings in the past (Grosgrain, Cool Mom Picks, etc.) and alas I have finally won!

We won the most beautiful pillow from Karen's site Craftermath.

It has found a home in Madeleine's room...

where it goes perfectly with the paper quilt pictures in her room.