Bathroom Part 2

Well, I am a quarter of the way there. I painted last week and I am so glad that part is done! It is so much warmer and cozier in there.

Before...



After!



I decided on the first (big flowers) shower curtain so I need to order that and a decorative hand towel to match. (Part 3)

Part 4 will be replacing the vanity/toilet/laying tile this summer. That should be LOADS of fun...insert sarcasm. Don't get me wrong, I love picking it all out and the end product, but I don't like messy men in my house.

I won't be blogging much this week/weekend. I am going to visit friends and family in Atlanta Friday-Monday. My Spring Break starts on Thursday at NOON (almost there!) so next week I will be catching up on lots of blogs!


I also got ORB happy and spray painted this mirror my parents passed on to us a while ago.

I have been looking for something for our guest room (this mirror was originally gold framed) and this is perfect because there is a window across from it and the light just bounces all over the room now!



Pretty details...



I also took the trunk from the living room and put it in here. It is so much more useful in here storing the extra towels and sheets for this room.



All in all, it was a very successful weekend of painting!

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Spring is in FULL Bloom!

This weekend we attended Greenfest, which is this HUGE garden show with 90+ vendors at the University of Tampa.

There were thousand of people and we were on the lookout for the perfect bougainvillea.







It was a beautiful day and we came home with some gorgeous things!

These flowers I HAD to have. They look and feel like velvet and are so rich in color. They have sprouted up like crazy since I potted them on Saturday.






We picked out this bougainvillea and plan to plant it against the side of the ugly, large obstruction shed against a trellis.



I am also loving my front pot by the door. It makes me happy every time I come home.



I cannot wait to start planting sod and having REAL grass! We are halfway there...can't wait to share the finished product!

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Clyde's First Photoshoot

We went and picked out Clyde today--here are the first pictures we have with him! Clyde is a King Charles Cavalier, tricolor.

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He's ALIVE!

Our breeder sent us baby pictures the other day and I just have to share!

When we showed Lola...she was very taken aback.


caption: WHAT!? You are getting one of those puny cow-look-alikes?! What did I did to deserve THAT?

We have our choice between the third from the right YELLOW ribbon (hard to see).



Or the second from the left RED ribbon.



They are both boys and we get to meet them on Saturday to choose our baby! "He" will be coming home with us over Memorial Day Weekend.

And his name shall be excitable, adorable, all-loving CLYDE.

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Bathroom Makeover

First of all, I found GREAT barstools at Pier 1 that are perfect for our bar area. I can now sit there and open the mail, do all my couponing, and pay bills.

And, there is now room for the hubs and friends to sit while I am working in the kitchen.



I started working on the extra bath today. We are saving for all our outdoor projects and the kitchen right now, so I can't spend much updating this bath. AKA, the tile must stay!




I primed the walls today and I am going to paint them a nice beige tomorrow. I figured beige wouldn't fight too much with the tile, which is a gray/blue color.



For the pop of color I am going to need, I want to get a fun shower curtain.

Which of these do you think is best? I like the big flowers on this one, but not sure if red looks right...although it is my accent color all over the house. There is a little blue in this one.




This one has a little more blue, so I am not sure if it will look wrong if the blues don't match.




What do you think?

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Tiiiiimber!

This weekend was another hard-working weekend. We worked in the yard (with the help of my parents) all Saturday and Sunday.

First, we trimmed up our grapefruit tree.

Under this tree is where I plan to plant my hydrangea bushes.



I brought them inside and cleaned them up.



And enjoyed :) ...they are DELICIOUS. I love having fresh fruit right in my backyard!



My parents brought us some of their knockout roses to put around the house. I love these and definitely plan on using them in our yard!






My mom and I worked on various pots around the house. Here is one of two that are on my back patio. Love the happy colors!



My dad and the hubs chopped down TWO trees (dead fruit) and DUG UP the roots! I was so impressed.



VICTORY!! I love this picture. He is all man!



Here is our progress. We have quite a bundle to get to the brush site next weekend.

We will also start to kill off the "grass" so that we can sod in a few weeks.



Then, the Blue Angels (air show pilots) decided they would practice above our house...VERY cool--they were so close to both each other and our house! I felt like a little girl just standing there in awe.



It was a very productive weekend, but I know I will be thrilled when we have a backyard "escape" to enjoy with the pup all summer.

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I'm Famous!

So I opened the Sunday paper this morning and there I was! My school was named the #1 place to work in Tampa (out of the small businesses in the area). Back in the fall, we all took surveys rating our school (business). They compiled all the scores of over 17,000 people's entries and our school was named #1! We found out this morning and obviously we are all full of pride for our school.

Reporters came to school to take pictures the other week and said they would be randomly choosing people to be pictured on the front page.



Here I am!!



This is something you call your mama about and send copies to relatives. I mean, honestly, how many times will I be in the paper in my life?

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ORB Love

I was coveting Lori's spray painting projects the other day, so I went out and grabbed myself a can of Rustoleum's Oil Rubbed Bronze, or ORB.

This stuff turns regular, ugly objects, into beautiful ORB objects.

I have been staring at the silver knobs on our media console since the day we put it together. But, because we couldn't affix different knobs, we left them.


Here is my new friend.



This is the best picture I could find of the old (leave it to me not to take a good before picture). I mean, you can see them across the room...oh how the bright silver haunted me.



Close up...



After! The best part of this after is that you can't tell that they are there...they just go. I don't notice them, and they don't stand out. I have been walking through my house trying to find my next victim ever since.



I set up this cute little area on our bar countertop this week. We throw all our bills, coupons, stamps, etc. in that red basket and I go through it once a week and purge. The little lamp just makes it so much cozier to write bills! I am thinking about bar stools for this spot. Just little ones we could push under with no backs. Let me know if you know of any good ones!

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Congratulations are in order!

Ya'll, this may not interest you a bit, but I do have close friends who read this blog, so this goes out to one of them.

Ryan and Allan,

As I write this my eyes are literally teary with happiness over your engagement. I have watched the two of you grow together over the past six years. I do not think there is anyone else out there for either of you that would be a better fit. I mean, really...look at them...two little toe-heads grinning from ear to ear. Does it get any better than this?



For those of you who do not know Ryan and Allan, this picture was taken in Europe. They took a little vacay there and her sweet FIANCE popped the question on a quiet street on this little bench. Unbeknownst to her, he had the ring pinned inside his jacket and it kept poking him while they were walking during the day. I mean, TALK ABOUT A POKE IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION?!

I look forward to the coming months when they will be doing their planning (and stressing). I also look forward to a lifetime of memories that I will get to share with them. It is always our little joke, but Ryan and I like to say that someday our children will be playing and hers will be naked and muddy, and mine will be well dressed and pristine, but at least they will be playing together :)





Sorry, I had to--Congratulations Ryan and Allan!

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Furniture Switch Up

My mom and dad came this weekend to work on the sprinkler system in the backyard, and while my dad and hubs were in the backyard, my mom and I were inside decorating.

First we tackled the china cabinet...



I put the gold platter that used to be on my coffee table as a display and I love the way the light catches it...much better than on the coffee table!



I filled my lion pitcher with pretty hydrangea and ivy.



And got this cute lantern from PB with a similar colored candle to the hydrangea.



We switched the living area from this:



To where we can now WALK down the hallway without having to slide by the humongous chair...



To this! Lola really wanted to show you herself...



I really think our furniture fits so much better this way...much cozier too. What do you think?

You can't quite tell but we are using the ottoman as a side table between the couch and the plaid chair. I am on the lookout for a tray to set on top of it for drinks.

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