Our sweet smiley boy.

Hard to believe that our sweet smiley boy is one today.  We can't wait for all the milestones, memories, smiles and hugs to come. 

'A year of Paddy' has consumed our stairwell art.  It is fun to reminisce through all these photos, and the best part is seeing Paddy's face every time we go up or down the stairs...he smiles at himself the whole way!


Happy first birthday, Sean Patrick!

Got one!

Finally, eBay and I can be friends again.  I got a mirror for the gray bathroom.

This girl is in the process of becoming glossy white as we speak.

I only wish that the mirror was a little bit longer.  When you have a house full of tall people, I always worry that mirrors/art/etc. will be too high for those shorter than us :)

Thankful...

Veteran's Day is such a special day.  It makes me reflect on all the sacrifice that all the men and women in uniform have made.  I am so thankful to live in this great country and have all the freedoms that we do.  As Toby Keith said tonight, here at West Point, "Never apologize for being patriotic. 'em."

Today makes me think back to Sean's deployments, to homecomings, to news of friends who have been injured while deployed, to news of babies being born (our godson) while the dad was gone, to weeks upon weeks without a call from my husband, to hearing of friends reunions on R&R and how their children quickly took to their dad, to unbreakable friendships that this Army life has helped us form, and most of all, to my husband and his selfless service.  My heart just swells with pride when I think about Sean and what he has chosen to do with his life.

Today also makes me remember our Vietnam Vets who were never treated with the amount of respect that they should have been given.  They are true heroes.

Today is one of those days that helps me put things back into perspective.  Time to forget about the silly things that I can let myself get upset about and just be thankful for the fact that, right now, I get to see my husband every day.  Several of my very dear friends and their children are without their husbands/dads today as they are still deployed.  I am incredibly grateful to their husbands and to them, for their service at home. 

In Progress - Half Bath

So, I was hoping to have all these blog posts about all the 'finished' rooms in our house and be happy with everything that I posted.  However, a few things...

1.  Our rooms are NEVER totally done...something can always be tweaked.
2.  I was starting to feel like I wasn't being very authentic if I waited for everything to be picture ready...
3.  I would never have ANY posts if I waited for things to be perfect or until I had the budget to buy everything I wanted :)

So, I figured I might as well post about progress and mishaps...trying to 'keep it real'.

So, our half bath...first, it was painted yellow.  It was a very last second color choice that I was never very happy with/sure about.  Again, trying to find something to go with the oak accents felt challenging to me.  After seeing the yellow on the walls, I knew it had to go. 

(Please notice how the towel rack was hung so close to the toilet paper that you almost can't find the toilet paper!  That has since been fixed.)
 The white accessories don't pop at all...

So, the yellow went.  Welcome, gray.  (By the way, I think it is so funny how I have been so anti-gray for so many years, and now I can't seem to get enough of it.  Just one more reminder why I have to remain open minded.)
My Goodwill elephant and some of my milk glass finds...

I love the color...I matched it to the Ikea floor mat.  I decided it might be fun to find some cheap mirrors to paint glossy white and hang on the wall.  This is the most 'petite' bathroom I have ever been in, so maybe the addition of mirrors may make it feel a *little* bigger??

I have been SEARCHING, and SEARCHING on eBay.  I feel like I don't know the right search words to use...do you ever feel like that?  I, of course, don't want to spend much, and thought I wouldn't have any issues after getting such a steal on my federal mirror!  Well, that hasn't turned out to be true...I have lost several last second eBay auctions...it is killing me!!  I would share a picture of the mirror that I am bidding on, but OH.  I was just outbid.

I will keep you posted if I make any progress...

Pelmet Boxes...

Our kitchen really needed a little something..some infusion of color, for sure.  And, fabric that would tie together the buttercup yellow walls with my red matted "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen" print.

Once again, I relied on Jenny's instructions.  I followed her tutorial on how to make Pelmet boxes. 

I ordered two yards of Robert Allen's Kiki Pinata fabric.  I was hoping it would be enough to serve as a curtain to cover up the space below a shorter section of the kitchen counter and to make a couple of pelmet boxes.

I used some leftover boxes from our move, and got to work.

First, I cut shapes out of the boxes...(notice that the larger box has two folds in it due to the size of the box I used...this has since caused some issues b/c the pelmet box is now bowing out in those spots!)

I tried to reinforce those spots...but that wasn't good enough :)
Then, I laid the batting out, and cut it to size.  Then, I repeated that with the fabric.
Then, I used the staple gun and securely attached the batting/fabric.  It took me a while to figure out how to hang these bad boys, but I finally 'screwed' small eye hooks that I had from some picture hanging kits into the back of the pelmet box, and hung the eye hooks from some picture hangers that I nailed into the wall...see below picture...

Eye hook...

Then I slid the hook onto the bottom picture hanger...

I love the pop of color...the larger pelmet box is bowing out on the folds in the box, so I REALLY need to fix that :)

I used the fabric for the pelmet boxes and as curtain coming down from this random section of counter that was set lower than the rest.  We stash Glory's food, our recycling bins, and a three drawer organizer behind the curtain...thank goodness for hiding places!

Halloween Grinch

I am a total Halloween Grinch...maybe that is what I should have dressed as for the party we went to on Saturday.  I love to blame it on my 6th grade Halloween when my friends and I had our candy stolen from some 'bullies'...one friend was even flipped to the ground.  Most of the girls just laughed it off...I was a little more shocked by the whole thing.  What?  Halloween bullies in Glen Ellyn?  How could that be?

That is an easy excuse, so I stick with it.  I am hoping that kids will make Halloween more fun again.  Or...maybe if Sean and I could ever come up with a good costume??  We try to think of good ideas, but come up short.  We were going to have one of us be a Chilean miner, and we would just have one of us stay in the basement all night with a pipe running downstairs.  Okay, not the most practical idea.

All that being said, we were invited to our neighbors for a party the other night.  I knew 'A' & 'B' would be all over the details, and 'A' blew every little detail out of the water.  She claims she copied everything (which is all I seem to do!), but just pulling together all these details in one party was definitely all 'A'.

They have these very detailed cut outs in their windows and the perfect lighting behind them...'B' did the cut outs himself, and he even incorporated a rat being dropped into a cauldron as a 'shout out' to our little rat issue.


So, 'A' is clearly the champion of themed parties...check out all the food and the perfectly coordinating names!

This 'spooky punch' was super tasty, and it had an ice skull floating in it!  I wish I would have gotten a better picture of that...

Mummy Marshmallow Treats...

Boo-tiful Brownies...

Spiderweb Eggs...a Martha idea...

Marinated Moons...little buffalo mozz balls marinated in yummy spices...

Guacamoldy with Jack-o-Lantern dippers ('A' cut out all those pumpkins from tortillas and then baked them...so yummy!)

Pina Ghouladas...notice the corn syrup/red food coloring mixture that mimics blood running down the glass...nice...

On the walls, they even blew up pictures of all the families that were at the party where they had 'photo-shopped' our pictures and placed us in front of haunted houses...adorable!

There were even more perfect details, but I didn't get great pictures, so I will stop here.  Thanks for the great time, 'A' & 'B'!

Paddy's World...

A long time ago, I blogged about wanting to place a big map in Paddy's room.  I ordered it from Amazon, got it before we moved in, matched a light blue to the map for the other three walls, and then was ready to move in.  Krissy came to the rescue and pointed out that I would probably want to hang the map before our goods were delivered so I wouldn't have to move furniture around, etc. to do it later.  So, Krissy, her daughter and I had a fun night hanging wallpaper.  This was my first adventure in wallpapering.  I was pretty clueless, so thankfully, Krissy is a patient and helpful teacher!

Before:

During:

The surprising thing about the map was that it was supposed to be 13 feet long, which would have been too long for the wall we put it on, so I figured we would just trim it...well, it came up about a foot and half short of covering the whole wall.  This drives the 'neurotic me' a little nuts, but I think we placed the map in the right place so that your eye isn't immediately drawn to the piece of wall without map!

The other bummer for us is that Iraq and Afghanistan had to be cut out as they fell where the window is...

I am very pleased with how the map turned out...and I think Paddy likes it too...

come on in and check it out...

 After:

 and here is the 'keeping it real' photo...notice where we ran out of map...

And here are a few shots of the rest of Paddy's room...almost all of this is from his nursery in Boston...

Most of these pictures on the 'gallery wall' were in his Boston room; however, I added the painting of hot air balloons that our sweet friend, Catherine, gave to Paddy.  We also added the very old Army pennant that Sean and I got at Scott's in ATL...


Changing table...since we have 're-purposed' the Brimfield cart in this house, my only other decent option was this buffet we bought in Michigan several years ago.  In Columbus, this was outside in our entertaining area.  In Boston, I did a horrible job refinishing it, and then, I didn't fix it :), but went ahead and used it in our dining room to shove as many pieces of entertaining gear in here that I could.  Don't you love multi-purpose furniture?

Reading corner...with Ari's "Let Go" picture...

The coat rack that my dad made is getting lots of good use...

Thankfully this closet could fit his little dresser (that was completely scuffed up in the move!)

The closet is helping store the 'nicer' books...

Some fun trinkets and books on top of the dresser in the closet...

The beautiful growth chart that Michelle made...I smile every time I see this because I just think about how much time and love went into making this...

That's all we've got :)

Why can't I be a consistent blogger?

I don't think it could be said any better than AnNicole at Suburban Cottage...

Check out her post, and I just love the quote she uses...

There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. ... No artist is pleased. [There is] no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.

from The Life and Work of Martha Graham

Can't get enough of the fall!  Picture from a trip to Lawrence Farms...

Clipboard Stairwell

So, the clipboard stairwell...we ended up deciding to go for it, and we couldn't be happier about that decision.  A cheap and fun way to fill up a big space.  I ended up ordering the clipboards from a different source as my first source charged for shipping on EACH clipboard...forget that.

Putting these up was pretty funny.  It was my not-so-brilliant idea to have Sean and I do this together...I would stand back with the laser level to ensure that the angle of the clipboards would follow the angle of the banister, and Sean could take a pencil and follow the laser line.  Then, I could just nail along that line.  Horrible idea.  I consider myself to have a decently steady hand, and even with what you think is a steady hand, you still are moving, even if a little bit.  Sean was beyond frustrated with my ridiculous method, but I was as stubborn as usual, so I made him attempt the line.  It pretty much looked like one of those monitors in the hospital when you have a contraction.  Wasn't going to work.  Sean again explained his method of measuring up from the stair and then over, the same distance, every time...I was still skeptical.

I finally caved and tried his method.  It was a little time consuming, but he was right.  I definitely had to eat my words.

Before...

After...

I still need to find some better treasures for many of the clipboards, but I just tried to get something up before the Baptism...
I adore this photo of my mom hugging her grandmother on my parent's wedding day...
I purchased this old book years ago on eBay, it was written for West Point girlfriends with tips for when you visit...too funny.

Places we have lived...

I love the idea of having some art to commemorate the places we have lived.  When I saw Jenna's state prints, I fell in love.  I like the modern vibe, fun pops of color, and just a little something different.  I love the work Jenna did for me when she re-designed my blog, so I was thrilled to order from her!

I have had these prints since we were in Boston, and I had been dying to put them up.  I got them into frames while we were staying with the Crows because I just wanted to see them again.

I am not sure that the bold red desk is going to stay red as it doesn't really go with our current color scheme, but for now, I love how it looks with all the bright colors.

Jenna was extra sweet and was willing to create Iraq for us, as I thought it would be fun to see how long people try to figure out which state is on the bottom right...

Illinois, New York, Indiana, Georgia, Massachusetts, and Iraq...

Guest Room

We painted our guest room upstairs a tan color (Behr - Distant Tan).  I was excited to get to use my imperial trellis look-alike duvet that I bought ages ago at Home Goods.  That was the only 'new' piece that went into this room...the rest is stuff that we had used in other rooms before...

Before...

After...

Watercolor by Suta Lee over the Urban Outfitter's upholstered headboard...
Love that donkey tail succulent...
I am really digging the gallery walls lately...I need to update this picture because I finally located the white porcelain keys that belong in the black frame...

A great tailgating idea...

So, the Crows and some friends put on the best tailgate this past weekend.  Picture perfect weather, just the right amount of food for 75+ adults and 40+ kids, great company, cocktails, etc. 

Krissy is such an effortless gourmet cook, so she had this idea to do a waffle bar.  At first, I thought...oh my.  That's going to require a lot of work, manning of the irons, not fun.  But, Krissy, in all her infinite wisdom, figured out that we could just pour the mix into plastic cups and let everyone do their own.  PERFECT.  We knew that some batter would be wasted this way, but we think this was the only way to successfully pull this off.  They had bought two huge boxes of Pancake mix at BJ's, we just had to add water, mix and get into the cups.  Krissy made some yummy sauces to top the waffles, and the lines never slowed down for people waiting to make a delicious waffle.

Sorry I was a doubter, Krissy - GREAT idea.  If any of you are planning breakfast tailgates, you should give this a try.  A couple of tips...


1.  Keep a trash can right next to the station as the cups are a little messy after pouring the mix onto the irons.
2.  Be prepared for spillage...just make sure to plan accordingly with your tablecloth/table, etc.
3.  We had four irons to begin with, but they were blowing fuses, even though they were on a power strip.  So, you may want to have them running from a couple of different outlets.


The station, complete with irons, batter, whipped cream, syrup, non-stick spray for irons, and fruit sauces...
A tray like this one was PERFECT for transporting batch after batch outside...
The tasty sauces...with Army labels ;)

Guest Bath

Most of the colors I selected for our house are pretty neutral, so I really wanted to go bold with at least one room.  I have been wanting a really dark room for a while, so I decided to go for navy (Behr Peaceful Night).  I am so thrilled with how it turned out...it definitely makes me want to try a larger dark room next time.
I had won a Syroco Federal mirror on eBay, and I wasn't sure where I was going to put it yet.  While I was chatting with Sommer, she said, you know, a gold sunburst mirror would look really cool against the navy.  BINGO!  Perfect place for my eBay find...thanks, Sommer!


It is a long and narrow bathroom...hard to get good pics...

I also spent way too much time seeking out perfect shower curtains.  I wanted something for this bathroom that was just sort of fun/whimsical for Paddy, and not too themed.  I bought a $10 white curtain from Target, tiny bits of fabric from WalMart, and I made this one...




In between the towel rods, I needed something for the wall.  I stumbled across these 2 pages of scrapbook paper that I had purchased a while back, and I threw them into some Ikea frames.


Finally, oak cabinets are a theme in all the rooms, so I have just stuck with using white accessories in all locations...

Our House, Take One.

Hello out there...I have fallen off the face of the blogging world again...I seem to do this from time to time.  We are moving in and feeling pretty settled...having visitors right away and Paddy's big Baptism to plan for were wonderful motivation to get done.  There are still lots of ongoing projects and dreams that I have, so I guess I will document those along the way.

We are loving being here at West Point...it is such a breathtaking, peaceful, Mayberry-like place.  One of my new friends is really into photography, so I am hoping she can help me improve while we are here.  I would love to capture some of the beauty of this place.

I have started taking a few pictures of what we have done to the house so far, so I will share as we go. 

I just risked my life to get this picture of our outdoor light - we have an obscene amount of acorns falling - we are all just waiting to get pummeled in the head or realize that we have dents in our cars.  Back to the light...it is one of my favorite parts of the house...isn't it charming?

Balcony with a view...

So, in Mexico, this is the view that my brother and sister-in-law have from their balcony...are you as jealous as I am?

They have a cool, modern condo that couldn't get any closer to the ocean.  They were trying to figure out how they are going to set up the balcony.  Their requirements were that the space has to be good for relaxing, entertaining and maybe growing some plants/herbs. They didn't want too much or too bulky of furniture, and if the pieces could be stackable for easy storage, even better.

view from inside...
the balcony is not a rectangle, but more of a trapezoid?!  Ry - is that the right term?

I put together some initial thoughts for them, and they found some pieces that they liked, but due to a time crunch with the move and slow shipping times from stores, they are going to furnish this once they get settled in. They have agreed to do an 'after' post for us...can't wait!

1.  Maybe a fun side table? ( I found one of these in Newburyport, and I am kicking myself for not buying it...it was only $65.  I am sure one of these could be found cheaper.)
Amazon - Elephant Side Table Ceramic
$179
2.  Ikea
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20147713
$49.99
3.  Modern Funiture - $995
4.  My personal favorite - CB2 - Igloo Chair - $149
5.  I think an outdoor rug would be a great way to bring in some color/design interest.  If you wanted something contemporary, I liked the black/ivory one.
Home Infatuation - $89.99
6.  A small side table may be nice depending on the configuration of the balcony
Urban Outfitters - *on sale - $19.99
7.  Good deal...
Target - $94
8.  CB2 - Eddy Round Outdoor table - $179
9.  CB2 - Rex Grey armchair (goes well with Eddy table from CB2) - $69.95
10.  CB2 - metropolitan chair - $139
11.  Outdoor Rug (I think this one would hide a lot of dirt/sins) - 42'' x 66'' $124.95
12. Outdoor Rug (learned about this from Sommer's blog - and it's a great deal!)
Frontgate - 3'9" x 5'5" - $60


My favorite pick is the igloo chair from CB2.  I would like a couple of these for our backyard.  Add to the growing wish list...WAIT...they are not available anymore...that is sad.  And, they don't get very good reviews...


My favorite plant idea is one that I saw on Oh Happy Day a few weeks ago...I still can't get enough of succulents! 

But, they wanted some herbs, so Ryan was looking into building some sort of frame to hang pots on...I am sure it will be genius, whatever he comes up with.

Stay tuned....

Keys

We get keys to our new house on Monday afternoon at 4pm.  That is 1 day and 29 minutes and....just kidding.  But that IS how antsy I am about it.  This will be the 18th time we have moved around since we left our house in Boston.  As Mark put it, we have pretty much been without a home for a quarter of a year.  That's a long time for a girl who loves 'home'.

We feel so blessed to have had such a fun summer, staying with family and friends, traveling, and realizing that we don't need all that much stuff (although, we are to the point now where we can't wait to see some of our 'stuff'!). 

Thank you to all of our dear friends and family who have put up with us and all that we bring along.  Please know that you all have an open invitation at our house, anytime.  We can't thank you enough.

So...now, let the race begin...just how quickly can I get settled and decorate?

 This isn't our house, but looks just like it.  We will be in an end unit...

Toy Storage

How do you stow away toys?  I haven't had to broach too much of this topic yet because when we left our house back in May, Paddy was still totally entertained by a few toys and his exersaucer.  However, those days seem to be over.  So, I have been hoping to find some lockers that I could paint a fun color to help corral toys. 

There are lots on craigslist; however, I just haven't decided the final style/shape that I want yet.

An inspiration pic from the nursery - can't remember where I found this one...

If I really let myself dream, I would want a bank of old swim lockers.  While we were in Boston, there was a guy I was corresponding with about free lockers who said that they also had tons of swim lockers.  As you can imagine, I am just kicking myself for not picking some up and figuring out how to store them. (I am sure Sean would disagree with this statement :))

Mine aren't nearly as cute as Jenny's...

So, I attempted Jenny's roman shades made from mini blinds with some of the $1 panels I recently acquired and some miniblinds from WalMart ($7.50 each).  I bought 4 matching gray panels, but we have three windows in the master bedroom, so I figured this would be a good way to use the panels and still cover all the windows.  Needless to say, mine aren't nearly as adorable as hers were :)

plain jane shade from Walmart!

snipping all the blind supports...

these are the only slats left on that whole blind!

The Fabritac that still looks wet, even though it is dry! UGH.

my unfinished top...

my unfinished bottom...

First of all, this was my first time using Fabric glue...so, I guess I used too much maybe because the glue came through the fabric.  I thought when it dried, you might not be able to notice, but it still has that 'wet glue' look.  BOO.

In typical Meghan DIY fashion, I want to be a perfectionist, but I can't really figure out every last little step to make it look polished and perfect, like Jenny's.  Because of my lack of patience,  I need to still finish off the tops as well as the bottoms.  I may resort to using safety pins to finish up the bottoms....yikes.  I was a bit unclear on that part of the directions...

I contemplated buying trim, but then I would probably quickly defeat this inexpensive DIY (3 windows for under $30). 

So, these will probably just need to be less than perfect roman shades!  I will post a better picture once I get them up in the room...