Heya!  Happy Block Party day!

Before I get to the features, I wanna give you a sneaky peek of what I'm working on:






I wish the color came across better.  It's almost Periwinkle.

Aaaaaaaaanway, on to the features!!


Karin at Art Is Beauty shared this stunner.  You have to go see what it looked like when she found it!




Kathryn at Ugly Duckling Transformations shared this adorable mirror she made for her laundry room.  So stinkin' cute!!





One More Time shared this fantastic telescope redo.  I love it so much!

So may delicious treats shared this week!  Here are the ones that made me super hungry:





Linda at With a Blast shared this so, so yummy looking pizza.  YUM!!





Julie at White Lights on Wednesday shared this knock off Buca di Beppo Penne San Remo recipe.  Oh delish!! 

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Looking forward to Labor Day weekend??  Got any big plans??

Let's get the party started!!

Hey there my beautiful and awesome friends!

I decided that since I missed the party lat week I would skip features.

I'm going to show you some of the things that made me smile over the past couple weeks.

Hasn't been fun and games around here.


I picked up this gorgeous set of tables locally for $25 for the entire set.  I'm waiting for my MMS milk paint to come before I transform these beauties.  They are going to look so good.  I can hardly stand it.




I made cinnamon rolls from scratch on Sunday.  There is no scent in the world better than baking bread.  IMHO.  So very, very yummy.



My new iPhone case.  Now, most of you youngsters won't get just how really cool this is.  Sad.




Also over the weekend, I made home made pickles.  My very first attempt at canning.  I'm still letting them pickle, so I'm not sure how they taste yet.  I'm dying to try them out!  I've been wanting to try this for forever. 


Kita's roses blooming again.  I think the only thing that may smell better than baking bread, are these little roses.  Oh my.  They smell HEAVENLY!





Fun with tin cans and Contact paper.  Makes pretty containers for our coffee stirrers and many pens.  Don't you hate how you can never find a pen when you need one??

Oh, and I also NEED for you to all watch/listen to this video.  It has brought many, many smiles to my face over the past few days.  We need more people like this in the world.  If we can't laugh at ourselves... what good are we??



Okay, isn't that just the most AWESOME thing ever?!?  Okay, I may have a sick sense of humor.  But, I have great taste in music!

Now, onto this weeks party!!

Happy Friday y'all!

First, I'd like to apologize for missing the All Star Block Party this week. 

My Husband and his siblings have lost both parents in little over 6 months.  His Mother, just this past weekend.  I was spending some time with my guy.  Life is so short people... so short.

I will pick up the party next week.  Thanks to my partners in crime for having my back!

Needless to say, this has been a hard week.  Plus, it's the dog days of Summer.  Plus, the West Coast has been plagued all Summer with horrible fires (some just a little too close for comfort!) and I'm just not a fan of the heat.  It's this time of year when I get depressed.  The smoke in the air REALLY doesn't help. 


It's purdy in the morning... but allergies and asthma are out of control.  Eyes and sinuses are very irritated and generally unhappy.  So, bear with me while I daydream about the upcoming Fall...







Sweaters... boots...



Blankets... hot cocoa...






Halloween... crisp evening walks...






Thanksgiving... casseroles... pies...





Home... Family... Friends...

Hurry Fall.

XOXO

All images courtesy of Better Homes & Gardens.  Except for the smoky one, that's all mine. 

You all know that we live in the middle of nowhere... right?!?

We have 2 options for local grocery shopping.  One of them is Wally World.  You can imagine how picked over and unappetizing the produce can be, right??

I was beyond thrilled to hear that some of the folks in our town were planning on a makeshift farmers market in one of the local parks.  Well, it grew in momentum and was held at our city building. 

Last week, not so great.  Seems this is the height of yard sale season.  WHAT?!?  :-)

But, with loads of us whining about the lack of produce, people stepped up this weekend. 

Look at my haul!






Look at all this home grown goodness!  And Wally world can't compare to the prices!


Cherry tomatoes, green & yellow squash, Swiss chard, corn, big juicy tomatoes and...  my favorite:


Gorgeous, freshly laid eggs.  Sooooooooooo pretty!!



I've never tried Swiss chard.  Not sure what it tastes like, but I'm gonna give it a try!

I'm pretty much obsessed with my eggs.  Almost too pretty to use.  Almost. 




Oh.  So pretty. 

Hope you are all having a lovely weekend!

XOXO

Hiya friends!!

It's our favorite time again!!



You guys are just amazing.  And inspiring.  And I love you.

This week, these caught my eye:


Jess at Mom 4 Real shared her freshly painted parquet floor.  Isn't this luscious??  Makes me wish I had parquet in my house!


Mimi at blue roof cabin fixed up this gorgeous trestle table with a reclaimed wood top.  Looks just stunning!!  I have a table very similar to this one.  I've always called it the "buffet table" but, now I know it's really a trestle table.  Silly me.


I fell head over heels in love with this sign made by Sheila at Blissfully Shabby.  It's so happy and well... the lyrics are some of my favorites.

Now, let's skip dinner and have dessert first.  Cause, life is short:






Elena from 'A Casarella shared this gorgeous raspberry brownie cake.  Absolutely gorgeous and I would like a BIG slice!!









Kimberly at Serendipity Refined shared this recipe for popovers and strawberry butter.  Gorgeous.  Could you imagine these all warm and buttery on a Sunday morning?  Or, anytime of the day for that matter!!

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And, onto this weeks party!

Please, abide by the rules: 

Well... hellooooo friends!

Big day here, big day.

The loft is finished.

I am so in love with this space.  It's SO cozy!!

Drew said "Let's be sure to use the space.  Not just look at it.  Because it's so nice."

That's the biggest compliment!!

There will be lots of pics... I apologize.

Let's look at the space, before:



Basically, the loft was home to the ginormous kitty jungle gym and one lonesome shelf.   I have to mention; this space felt HUGE until I started adding furniture.  I had planned on adding a faux fireplace and a few other tables, but there ended up being not enough room.  That being said... let's see the transformation!!

Started with adding my favorite; board & batten:






Now, I scoured the rest of the house, KSL and even sewed for this project.  The B&B cost the most at about $60 for the 2 sheets of MDF.

Here is the space, this morning.  I will break it down as we go:









The top portion of the room is painted my favorite color, Wythe blue.  I kept the lower portion the color that the whole house is painted (Botany Beige) to minimize how much I would have to paint.




 The kids stuff, is still there.  They love all of this stuff.  This morning I even found some other toys that they had dragged up from downstairs overnight.  It is, their house too.  We adore them and want them to be comfortable and happy too.




The yellow chair I found in a local online ad for $50.  She was asking $75 but worked with me.  This is the next most expensive piece in the room.  I adore this chair.  It's funky and cottgey all at the same time.  And I'm sure the woman I bought it from paid a lot more than I did. Also added a big basket full of fluffy blankies to snuggle up with.



This large, comfy (MAJOR COMFY) chair and ottoman were given to us by a co-worker, Mike.  I mean... HELLO!!??  This is the perfect reading chair!  It fits one large human plus one very large Max!!



I sewed these pillow covers and made the rosettes.  I have 3 blistered fingers (from the glue gun) as proof.  I haven't sewn in about 15 years.  My amazing neighbor, Mandy, borrowed me her sewing machine.  I also used it to make these drop cloth curtains:




 This is one drop cloth at $10 from Lowes.   I tied them back, Ballard style, with plain old sisal rope.


The 2 art pieces started out life as the 2 yellow/green canvases in this before picture:


Merry painted them white, then added 2 custom made hollyhock vinyl stickers by Made by Vanessa, who just happens to live a couple block from us:





Well done Merry and thanks!  They look gorgeous! The mirrors all came from other parts of the house.

The reading lamp ($29) I got at Ikea, along with the faux greenery ($6):



All the other decorative bits came from other parts of the house as well.





The 2 nesting side tables were part of a 3 piece set that I got at a local yard sale for $5 and they were spray painted Aubergine.


This cute little bench I got locally as well, for $5.  I'm going to cover it as soon as I can find my staple gun in the cluttered basement.  :-/

The area around the master bedroom door still needs some pretty things.  Still deciding on what.









My epic chest still fits so nicely in this little nook.  The "Follow The Fleet" poster was a gift from my younger Sister, Marty, for my Birthday this year.  It's got to be one of my all-time favorite movies in the world.  The purple vases I got again, at Ikea, for $.99 each.  I had the lamp and I added a couple burlap flowers to the shade.

I think that's about it.  We are LOVING this cozy space.  I can't wait to curl up with a Harry Potter book and an ice coffee!







Max is obviously very comfortable and enjoying the finished space.

We LOVE IT!!!!


XOXOX