Home Tour- Living Room & Dining Room

I snapped a few pix of my living room earlier today and I've spotted a few things could look a bit more organized, but you all know that I live with a 3 and 7 year old, so this is about as good as it gets.  My sofa, chair and ottoman are all slipcovered and have been laundered 3-4 times each.  We're a messy bunch for sure. Note to self: center sofa and coffee table in front of large window first thing tomorrow.

I've considered adding drapes to the bottom window behind my couch, but I'm really enjoying the full afternoon sun. 

Reckon my girls love the camera?

My beloved "S" wall. 

 I have 5-6 more S's that need to be added my collection and my goal is to add at least a dozen more.

Dining Room/Entry.

Loathe is not a strong enough word for how I feel about my front door.  I would love to paint it a shiny chartreuse or maybe charcoal or butter yellow.  I'm going to leave it alone for now.  I may need professional help with my front door dilemma.

Home office entrance on right. 

Any suggestions? 

I'm all ears.

Home Tour-Playroom

I didn't know how much I would love a playroom until we moved into this house last summer.  Our playroom makes it possible for the girls to keep their bedrooms almost clutter-free and the Cameron storage system shortens clean-up time to a mere five minutes.  As I stated before, my couch and chair are slipcovered and fully bleachable.

Thought you might like to see the "READ" that I podged for the reading nook.

I also added a $10 oil drip pan from Walmart as a giant magnet board.

The school/library/office/grocery store area. 

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I stumbled upon another photo of my master bedroom this morning.  I keep my weights and running shoes in plain sight to motivate me to exercise on my lazy, good-for-nothing days.  DailyMile.com also helps to maintain my motivation.  This website allows me to virtually train with my out-of-town friends.  What motivates/inspires you to exercise?

Home Tour-Bedrooms

This blog post is dedicated to all my various friends and family members that have asked about my home decor, but have yet to visit our new house in person.  I will start with photos of our bedrooms.  You may notice that several of these photos are repeats on this blog, but since it's been soooo long since I've been an active blogger I decided to repost these older pictures.  We also have a 4th bedroom that houses my treadmill, but I will add that photo later (mainly because I don't have a good picture of the treadmill room).

Jillian's Bedroom

Have I mentioned that she carried around a a paint fan deck for over a week while selecting the perfect bedroom color? This is Jillian's "official" bedroom, but she and Sarah Martin have always shared a bed.  We are finally able to give the girls cuddles and kisses each night, turn out the lights, close the bedroom door, walk away and they sleep soundly all night long. WooHoo!  Can you hear the angels singing?!?

Sarah Martin's Bedroom

This child adores pink.  She also had a say in her room color.  The girls love to play dress-up (see below) in here.  I have a larger, more rectangular photo of Sarah Martin to hang above her bed.  I'm still getting over my last $200 Hobby Lobby frame order.  Sheesh, those special order frames cost a fortune.

Dress-up cabinet. 

My plans are to paint the interior of this cabinet either a sunny yellow or bubblegum pink later this spring. 

Master Bedroom

I apologize for the poor photo quality. I'm anal particular about two things in life: my checkbook & my bed.  You may recall that Jason labeled me the "Checkbook Nazi" early in our marriage for...ahem...good reason.  I also insist that my bed is made to my liking every single morning.  There have been many times when Jason momentarily left our bedroom to fetch a cup of coffee only to return to a perfectly made bed.  I know, it's a sickness.  If, for some reason, my bed hasn't been made before lunch someone seriously considers dialing 911. 

Enlarged detail of my Tea Garden quilt. 

 Is this not the gaudiest bedding you have ever seen in your life?

I once described my (home decorating) taste as "Eclectic Modern with a touch of tacky".  See you if agree in my Home Tour posts to follow. 

I hate to run, but Dragonfly in Amber is quietly whispering my name. 

G'nite Y'all!

Remember Me?

Hello, it's me...Sunny. 

Wow, it's been ages since my last post and I have missed you all.  A lot.  We have been super busy these last few months and some things had to be sacrificed, like this blog for instance.  I also gave up t.v. for the most part.  I dvr the Today show and I catch Dr. Oz a few times each week (I do make time to sit down and watch a few minutes of American Idol with the Jason and the girls each week).  So what's the trade off?  Me.  I started back doing the the things that are important to me.  The things that make me, me.  I neglected myself after the homecoming of each daughter, but after two years it was time to make my needs just as important as the needs of  my husband and children.  We are all happy and healthy, because momma is happy and healthy.  In addition to my friends and family, anyone who knows me well knows that I need these three things to be happy:

1. Books.

2.  Exercise.

3.  Travel.

1.  Books: I read The Hunger Games trilogy this past fall and LOVED it! The March 23, 2012 movie premiere cannot come soon enough.  I was mildly obsessed with this book series until I began reading "Outlander" by Diana Gabaldon.  I'm now on the second book of this eight book "Outlander" series.  If you haven't read it...RUN...don't walk to your nearest bookstore to find it.  The first book is set in eighteenth century Scotland and I am scheming to visit the Scottish Highlands as soon as humanly possible.  I have a unhealthy slight crush on the book's main character by the name of Jamie Fraser.  Jason doesn't mind one bit that I go to bed with a tall, burly, red-headed Scotsman every night. 

2.  Exercise:  I've always been the outdoorsy type and I have regularly walked for exercise since I was a pre-teen, but I somehow managed to sit on my big fat rear for the better part of these last two years.  My sedentary lifestyle made me feel B-LAH!  I laced up my running shoes for the first time in two years this past October and I've re-discovered my love of running once more.  I ran my personal best 5K in January (29:53), and I've registered for my first 10K (March 17) and first half-marathon (April 28)!  My goal is to run at least 600 miles this calendar year and I average about 60 miles per month. My running buddy and I are considering, just considering, running our first marathon in 2014 (our 40th year).  I feel great and have the energy of a 27 year old.

3.  Travel:  Anyone with children knows that ones travel wings are clipped once you become a parent.  I'm half gypsy and would sell all my earthly belonging to travel the world without a second thought.  I haven't traveled outside of the U.S. since our trip to China in 2010 and I'm itching to go somewhere, anywhere.  Unless Jason's business trip is cancelled, we are going to Vegas for a few days this spring.  Just the two of us.  It's not Scotland , but beggars can't be choosers.  Right? 

Side note: My other love: Pinterest!  Pinterest makes me happy.  Very happy. 

I will keep you all posted on my three sanity-saving hobbies as events warrant.

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Jillian and Sarah Martin are still lovin' life and I will dedicate a blog post to each girl to catch you up on their lives and interests.

Also, I've taken some pix of our new house and I'll post them soon.  We still haven't sold our old house.  Keep your fingers crossed that it sells this spring or summer.

Let's chat again soon!

Halloween 2011

I hope you all had a safe and scary Halloween.  My little goblins enjoyed dinner, a hayride and trick-or-treating with their cousins last night.  Their sugar high lasted well past 9:00 p.m., but both girls were up and ready for school without a hitch this morning.

 Our night consisted of the following:

Costumes...

Sarah Martin has wanted to dress up as Dora for Halloween going on two months now.  Actually, she vacillated between choosing a Dora costume or a Peppa Pig costume, but her love for Dora won out in the end.  I found this delightfully tacky Dora costume in September and she has taken such care of the wig, backpack and other costume related components all month.  But.  Then she spotted Jillian trying on her Little Red Riding Hood costume from Halloween '09 for Story Book Character Day at school and it threw her into a full-blown tail spin. Sarah Martin decided that she must be Little Red Riding Hood at the last possible minute.  Talk about a nail biter.

HRH Kate Middleton

Jillian never wavered on her decision to be a bride this Halloween. 

 Check out the bling.

Merrymaking...

Nana and the little grands.

(Witch, Luigi, Bride, Little Red Riding Hood)

Trick-or-Treating...

Ready for candy.

First stop, my brother's house. 

Check out my little scrapper in the back.

Now on to Thanksgiving, Jilli-Gras & Christmas.

Can you believe next month is December?!?! 

The Big Day

We kicked off Sarah Martin's big day with a trip to Cracker Barrel on her birthday eve, which happened to also be her 2-year referral day anniversary.  I can't believe it's been 2 years since I saw her sweet face for the first time.  What a perfect little face it is!  The servers brought her a piece of chocolate cake and sang 'Happy Birthday', much to her surprise.

A fit of giggles followed the 'Happy Birthday' ambush.

Jilli and Sarah Martin ended their day with a few episodes of Peppa Pig.

The Big Day...

Woo Hoo!

Jumping through crepe paper upon waking.

Mommy & Me.

Sarah Martin's sweet little hand on her 3rd birthday.

The cake!

Sarah Martin requested a "Dora, Diego & Boots cake" at least a thousand times over the past month.

She loved it.

We also celebrated the birthdays of all the October babies in our family.

Mae (age 5) requested a Strawberry Shortcake cake.

Happy Birthday, Nana!

Happy Birthday, Aunt Gwen!

Dora Dollhouse...Jackpot!

Mae's birthday money.

The Birthday Girl.

You are such a sweet blessing to our family.

As a special birthday treat, both girls got to watch t.v. and fall asleep in our bed last night while Jason slept upstairs.

Oh, AND Jason got up with the girls this morning and let me sleep until 10:30 a.m.!  They brought me a steaming hot cup of coffee and a slice of birthday cake for breakfast. 

How did I get so lucky?

(Crepe paper & hand copy idea blogjacked from Pinterest)

Pinkalicious

True story...

Jason and I allowed Jillian to choose any wall color for her new bedroom shortly after moving into our new house three months ago.  Without hesitation, she chose a lovely shade of robin's egg blue (Benjamin Moore-Robin's Nest), so she and Jason made a quick trip to the paint store to procure paint supplies and they quickly got to work on her bedroom makeover.  Sarah Martin had a super cute shade of limeade on her bedroom walls that we thought she liked.  Oh no, she had no intention of settling for green walls if we were throwing out offers of a glamorous new bedroom.  Her words exactly..."I 'ONT PINK!" (translation- "I want pink").  She was adamant about her new color scheme.  Jason spent every evening this past week prepping and painting Sarah Martin's room this delightful shade of pink (Benjamin Moore-Pink Cadillac). 

The big reveal was on the eve of her birthday, which was also her 2 year referral day anniversary!

She and Jilli played "fashion show" for hours in her glorious new pinkalicious bedroom.

I'm thinking she needs this bed skirt.

Queen for a Day.
The dress-up area.

Sarah Martin's reading nook.

The catalyst.
Jillian's blue bedroom. 
This canopy bed once belonged to my niece, Anna Beth.  It's due for a fresh coat of shiny white paint and a sunny shade of yellow paint is planned for her desk (at right).  I tried my best to convince Jillian to accent her blue and yellow room with red, but she would have no part of it.  Bubblegum pink won out over the red.

 

Ok, since I'm posting house pix, I will go ahead and add photos of the completed play room.

The "school area".

Reading nook and craft table that also doubles as a beauty shop.

I still have many more house updates on the horizon.  My new goal is to have the house completely unpacked, decorated and organized by Christmas.
I think I can, I think I can...

Sweet Friends, Old & New

The girls were thrilled to attend the birthday party of Jillian's kindergarten classmate last weekend.  Jillian couldn't wait to see her girlfriends and Sarah Martin was fired up about wearing roller skates for the first time ever. 
Fun Times!

Jillian & Ella

Ella has been Jillian's very best friend since 2-year preschool.  They are such sweet, sweet girls.  They even found time to squeeze in a quick playdate while Jason and I painted two bedrooms in the attempt to get our old house market-ready by the end of the month. 

Sarah Martin has recently made a new friend that she talks about almost daily.  We met her and her sweet mom at the local park to feed ducks one day last week.  I really think they hit it off.  Playdate #2 has been scheduled for this coming week.

SM's new friend was thoughtful enough to send a birthday card and personalized artwork through the mail.  My girls LOVE to receive notes, cards, letters and various bits of junk through the postal service.  Sarah Martin was pumped and quickly taped this extra special birthday wish to the fridge beside her proudly displayed Halloween crafts. 

My refrigerator doesn't look quite this nasty in real life.

I swear.

More Sarah-Gras related posts to follow!