a year in review

Since it's been over a year since I last wrote, I will give you a quick recap. In the past year-ish, we:

1) Sold our house.

2) Moved in with friends because we didn't have a new house yet (Thank you, Martins!!!).

3) Bought a new house.

4) Made lots of changes to our new house.

5) Started a new "school" year for our kiddos at Mom's Day Out.

6) Welcomed new babies to our extended family & friends' families.

7) Experienced some things within our family that I hope & pray NEVER happen again.

8) Had some pretty significant family changes - both good & bad.

9) Hosted my extended family Christmas at our new house.


10) Celebrated our kiddos' birthdays in a much-scaled down fashion from previous years.

So...there you go! Our year in review. Hopefully I will write again soon, with more detail. I've got some things I've been thinking about that y'all should hear. :-)

Keep in touch!

tree!!!

My brother, the ultimate landscape architect, sold us a 13-foot red maple this week. He planted it in our backyard & this is the finished product. I'm so excited to finally have a tree in the backyard! It looks great!!!

one man's trash...

We have high ceilings in our living room, and for awhile now, I have been dissatisfied with the picture/sconce combo hanging above our sofa. The picture is horizontal, not very tall, and does not complement the high ceilings at all. So, I've been searching for something inexpensive to do (artwork is pricey and Baron & I are cheapskates). Anyway, I stumbled upon this idea in Martha Stewart's Blueprint magazine (I love this magazine, and just as I was introduced to it by my co-worker, she informed me that it was discontinued...boooo), and this is what I've decided to do:

{Click Here to read the article}

I have already started to collect my frames from local flea markets, and I will paint them once I have my collection complete. Here's my question: what color do you think I should paint them? Our couch is sort of a dark green (not hunter, but not sage...) and the walls are neutral. I thought about a bluish-green or yellowish green, but I am very indecisive. Should I go bold for a stark contrast against the neutral wall, or should I go more subdued since my sofa is a dark color? Thoughts?

finally completed a project!

Baron was in Miami last week on a mission trip with the teenagers, and that left me with a lot of alone time. So, I decided to work on a project that was thought up about 2 months ago & was put on the back burner by a procrastinator known as yours truly.

When the tornado hit our house, it took with it the vinyl cover to our firepit that sits on the deck. We still had the mesh lid, but because the cover was gone, rain was collecting in the pit and causing rust. So, I decided it would be nice to make a table top that would a) keep the rain out of the pit, and b) provide a coffee table when we aren't using the firepit. A friend of ours, Patrick Reed, built the wooden table top, and we planned to install tiles left over from our kitchen flooring. I worked on this all week, and here are some pics of the finished product. I also bought some chairs to (finally) have something to sit on outside. Nothing fancy, but they were cheap. :-)

please ignore my almost-dead hibiscus tree in the background :-(