Our Very Blessed Nest

Mostly to myself

2010-12-31T10:05:00.004-05:00

With another year coming to a close, I'm realizing that I've let so many moments pass me by without living, without being. I've hardly taken photos since we moved, almost two years ago. I didn't even take a single picture on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day! I'm so upset about that! I've let so many memories get lost because I didn't feel like dealing with my camera. Well, that's not going to happen in 2011!

In 2011 I'm going to do a 365 photo project. And I'm going to post them, here. I don't want my kids to look back and wonder why there are no pictures of the things that we did, the places we went, the sights we've seen, or just life. I want them to be able to relive those moments when they're my age. You see, there aren't many pictures of me or my family doing things, going places, seeing things - LIVING!

I will take a photo every day in 2011.

I will live in the moment.

I will NOT worry about perfection, for nothing is perfect.

Life will NOT pass me by this year.

I will be a better me - a better mother, wife, daughter, granddaughter, friend.

We will go more places as a family.

December 11, 2010 - Our first visit to Disney World as a family of four! We had an amazing time and can not wait to go back again!

I hope you all have a very safe, happy and blessed New Year!

Want to win something awesome?!?

2010-11-22T17:29:00.003-05:00

Head on over to Sarah - the Thrifty Decor Chick 's blog! She's giving away an awesome Silhouette Package! I've been lusting over these things for quite some time now. They're simply awesome! So many fun projects to do! Go enter HERE! =)

Bluetiful

2010-10-14T11:52:00.004-04:00

I had been on the hunt for a blue lamp for a while. I've seen plenty around, I just didn't want to pay the BIG bucks for one. Enter a trip to the local thrift store. I found this darling little lamp, hidden in the back corner of the shelf, behind a bunch of other lamps. She was the one - gorgeous curves and lines and just WOW! ;) I promise you that when I picked her up, she was positively GLOWING! Haha!

I wasn't quite sure where she was going to go at first. I thought about keeping it to use in my daughters room once I get it all together. But, I could hear her begging me to use her in the living room - and the inspiration hit me on the paint aisle at WalMart.

So, I got her home and got to work. She got a light sanding and a light coat of primer. Then came the moment she had been waiting for ALL HER LIFE!

Oh, she isn't quite finished yet - as you can see. She needs just the "right" shade and I've got an idea, but I need a cheap frame and my thrift store didn't have any to fit her. :( But, soon she'll be done and I'll post the finished product. For now I LOVE staring at her. She's asked me to stop, but I can't help it! ;)

p.s. No, my table is not finished yet. I think we I have decided to strip the paint from the bottom and start over. :/ Not exactly what I really wanted to do, but I think it will be better in the long run. Hopefully I can commission someone to do that for me this weekend? We shall see...

Come on in

2010-10-11T11:42:00.006-04:00

I decided that since it had been a while since my last post that I would share a little bit of our Home with you. I'm trying to envision what I really want our Home to look and feel like so I decided to take some photos {using my amazing camera phone ;)} So, come on in and visit with us!

Our Great Room {although, not so great if you ask me}. I dream of white couches and Sisal walls. Hubby is not so on board with the white couch thing though. I keep trying to win him over by showing him all of the blogs I read where they have white couches and ~~rugrats~~ small children. So far, I'm stil losing!

You can also see the beginnings of my Window Mistreatments inspired by Nester.

LOVE this fabric!

My very ~~small~~ cozy, but very functional kitchen.

Now onto the kids' rooms. Not much going on in them yet, but I have BIG plans for both!

Well, that's all for now. Hopefully I will be done with my table soon and will have some curtains hung at some point! Hopefully.

A little bit of this, and a little bit of that

2010-09-14T09:28:00.009-04:00

Yes, I realize it's been close to a month since I've blogged... I'm sorry! We've been busy, what can I say? And before you get too involved in this post... I think I only have a few photos to share. And not a single one of Kyla's party, which was a HUGE hit! Everyone loved the decorations, and the cake! I will have to pull the pictures from the other computer sometime and upload them.

We've had a lot of Saturday morning trips to Dunkin' Donuts and we've also been freqenting the local dog park with our beautiful puppy, Keira. She loves playing, and honestly if she doesn't get to go at least once a week she becomes a crazy puppy! The kids enjoy being out there as well... they just get the biggest kick out of watching all of the dogs running together!

We visited Medieval Times and the kids had an amazing time! They loved every last bit of it, the horses, the Knights, the Tournament... it was just so much fun for them! I have never seen their eyes so big, EVER! I can't wait to see their reactions when we go to Disney in December! ;)

(Mom, Kenny, Me, Kyla, & Kenny)

The hubby and I also got to have a little fun on our own! He took me out to the gun range to learn how to shoot a gun. It was very intimidating at first, but in the end I think I did pretty well, and I did have fun!

Now, don't get me wrong, I do NOT like guns very much at all. A cousin of mine was killed when we were kids because of one, so I've always had a fear of them. And let me give you a little disclaimer: In our house, all of the guns are LOCKED in a box and the box is on the higest shelf in the house. The kids can in no way get up to it, or get the box open!

In between all of the fun we've had I we did get to work on my table a little. The top has been stained and the bottom was painted, and I noticed while I was puting the second coat on that some of the wood was bleeding through. We didn't prime it first (take it from me if you're wanting to attempt this...ALWAYS PRIME!), so I knew it wasn't going to work this way. I let it sit for a week or so before I was able to get the primer and get started on it again. It was completely primed this weekend and I'm hoping that I will be able to get it moving along now. I am trying to decide, though, what sealer I want to use. I bought a satin Polyeurethane, but now I'm second guessing puting that on the stain. I keep flopping between shiny and not shiny. What's a girl to do?! Haha! This pretty much shows where we're at right now. {Notice my handsome worker bee! ;)}

I'm still on the lookout for some chairs to go with my table. I really want some with cushions, so that I can cover them in dropcloth! I currently have two, but I don't know how they're going to look with it (they're kind of a little fancy looking), so I haven't started painting those yet. I've had my eyes on two chairs at a local thrift store for quite some time now. Their price hasn't changed which is part of the reason I haven't picked them up yet. I might go up there this week to see if they will negotiate with me... doesn't hurt to ask, right?! ;)

Finally, I leave you with this little pretty... (Of course the idea came from Sarah at Thrifty Decor Chick... She's AH-mazing!)

The plate was $2.99 (I think!) at Marshalls and the cloche was $1.00 at a fundraising yardsale a while back (it came with a small wooden stand and a ~~beautiful~~ plastic Orchid). I did splurge a little on the pretties, although a few of the pieces I already had on hand. But I think it's GORGEOUS!

I also want to apologize for the lovely cell phone photos. I'm trying to convince my hubby to buy me a point and shoot, but since I have a nice DSLR he doesn't see the point! I just hate lugging that thing out to take quick pictures!

A new chapter for her

2010-08-23T13:30:00.002-04:00

I am trying my best not to cry while I write this. I've actually done pretty well all day, considering.

Today was my baby girl's first day of real school. Kindergarten! Last year she went to PreK but this, this, is the real thing! She got up the minute I walked in her room and turned the light on. She was beaming from ear to ear. In the days leading up to this, she asked many mornings "Is today when I go to school?" She was ready!

We put her clothes out the night before, she couldn't wait to get them on! She hardly ate a bite of her breakfast. She was all a flutter and just couldn't contain herself. When we got to her school all she wanted to to was get to class. And, when she was finally in her class, she sat right down and got to business! She almost forgot to tell us good-bye. She didn't cry, didn't even flinch at the thought of being there all day.

I actually held it together through all of the mornings activities. I surprised myself!

I'm slacking... I know

2010-07-30T13:50:00.003-04:00

I realize that I haven't posted anything in a few days. I really need to commit myself to blogging once, everyday! And I also need to get into the habit of taking photos of my kids at least once a day (because you know, life flies by)! So I guess I will just give a preview of the week we have planned.

The hubby is on vacation all next week! I'm both excited and worried. I'm excited because in my mind I think up a bunch of things that would be fun to go do together as a family, during the week when places aren't so busy. I'm worried, because I will probably be let down because we have so much do to around here to get ready for Kyla's birthday party (which is NEXT Saturday)!

But so far, we have planned to go to the beach and I've planned to work on my lovely table! We have to go shopping for party supplies, and make cupcakes and sandwiches for the party. And, I'm pretty sure that Hubby has a few of his own "projects" planned. Who knows where the week will take us!?

One more thing before I go... Kimba is hosting a Giveaway for her sponsor Knitty Bitties! Hop on over to Kimba's blog and enter for your chance to win a $40 Gift Certificate!!!

It's mine

2010-07-27T09:37:00.007-04:00

For the longest time I have been stalking Craigslist. On the lookout for a round table, with leafs, and it would have to be solid wood (no laminate for me please!). Last week, I found said table! The seller was asking $75 for it, and it came with 3 chairs. I let it go for a few days and decided to check back to see if it was still listed, and it was!

Yesterday I dragged my husband along with me to look at it. He gave me all the "Pro Craigslister" pointers during the car ride over. When we got out the owner took us back to an old barn. At this point I was thinking for sure that the table was damaged beyond repair. But when she opened that barn door I swear I could hear angels singing! Yes, it was dirty... the seller said it had been in there for years. But she (the table!) is just everything I wanted!

Sorry for the craptastic cell phone photo.

So there she is! I've already started sanding the ugly orangeish-yellow stain off of the top and will eventually stain it a beautiful deep cherry color, and paint the pedestal white. It's a lot of work though! I don't know what in the WORLD I was thinking when I dreamed this up. Ha! Oh well... she's mine!

ETA: I forgot to tell you what I paid for the table and 3 chairs... $50 bucks! Seems like a great deal to me! ;)

Welcome to our Nest!

2010-07-08T15:23:00.004-04:00

I am hoping that this blog will be a place for me to share little pieces of my life (that I don't want to forget), and all the "little" projects I have swimming around in my brain.

Thanks for visiting Our Nest!