We're blooming over here!

When we moved in, we were told that one of the trees in the back yard was a peach tree but over the summer, it seemed like it was dying. Despite the boys' constant watering, I thought it was a goner.

Then....I was sitting on the back yard swing and spotted pink blossoms from across the yard. To my delight, I discovered that our peach tree was blooming!!

Here's what it looked like at first with some blooms and lots of buds.



I love the detail of the centers.





The gorgeous, clear blue Arizona sky never gets old to me.



Then it started blossoming even more! {this is one of my favorite pictures of it below!}



Aren't those flowers gorgeous!?!



I just love this tree!



Now I'm VERY excited about the possibilites of peaches this spring!

And it just goes to show that we should never give up hope on something coming back to life!

When My Husband Gets His Craft On

He was in the garage most of Christmas Eve and Christmas Eve Eve.

From our closet where I was fetching the boys' present to wrap, I could hear sawing and hammering on the other side of the wall. There was some cursing, too. And there were multiple trips to Home Depot and Hobby Lobby.

I knew it would be good.

But I didn't know it would be THIS good.



He constructed and stained the frame, cut out the openings, and printed and matted the pictures (including that one of us from two weeks ago, BIG, right in the middle).

I ADORE it. Talk about a labor of love. Evidently I'm not the only crafty one in this family!

Turns Out, the Grass IS Greener

We've been in our new place in the southeast Phoenix valley for over four months now and are finally (mostly) settled in.

I'd wanted to live closer to my folks for a long time, probably ever since our first son was born six years ago. We'd lived 50 miles away, which meant a lot of long drives home late at night, often with a baby on board.

I had done a lot of fantasizing about what it would be like to live closer together. {cue dream sequence music} I imagined dropping by for a cup of coffee in the morning or to smoke a cigar with my dad on the back porch at night. I figured we'd shop at Costco and split our purchases. I'd be able to leave the boys for a couple of hours so I could go shopping. My mom and I could consult each other on our makeup and wardrobe for special events and borrow nail polish and jewelry from each other. My dad and I could talk business over lunch. We could go on impromptu outings and celebrate holidays without spending the hour-and-a-half on the road. I thought it would be marvelous.

Beyond that, we hoped that our move would mean more career and ministry opportunities for us, an excellent school for our son to attend kindergarten, neighbors we could build relationships with, more fun things to do as a family and so much more.

But you know how it is: reality often does not live up to the fantasy. The grass is rarely greener on the other side.

But, in the four months since we started this new adventure, as my husband often points out: we ARE "living the dream." Our life here is amazing and we are thrilled with our home, our neighborhood and my son's school. I have found a wonderful church home where I can do what I love: write. Being closer to my parents is an absolute blessing, even better than I'd anticipated. It is everything we had hoped and prayed for--and more! God is so good. As my mom posted on our fridge when we first moved in: "He has done all things well."

Our new home has grass in the front and back yards. It's partly why I was so drawn to this house when we were shopping around.



I haven't had grass in the yard since we lived in Florida in 1998. Just being barefoot on the grass makes me feel like I am truly home.



I imagined how much fun the boys would have on it, running through the sprinkler, playing football and wrestling. They have done all of that.



My father-in-law recently brought his dog for a visit and seeing the boys play with the dog on our lawn made my heart so happy.

I love sitting on my swing and looking out over the grass, watching the birds in the trees and gazing at the Arizona-blue sky. It just feels right. Like I'm exactly where I'm meant to be.



Turns out, the grass IS greener here. I had always known it would be.

I Heart Turquoise

I've been wearing turquoise for most of my life. Clothes, shoes, jewelry, I've always loved it. I think it's because it's beachy (I grew up in Florida), clean and vibrant. It makes me feel relaxed and energized at the same time. It's fun that it can go with green, orange, red, pink and a variety of other colors.

At the house we lived in for seven years, however, my color scheme was taupe, paprika and sage green (as you can see here).



No turquoise. My earth tones needed some sky!

Then my husband was working for a Chinese imports store and brought THIS turquoise sideboard home. HELLO!!

(see my old "paprika" wall??)



"But that doesn't go with anything!" I despaired. I thought he was nuts-o but it quickly grew on me. Now it's one of my favorite pieces of furniture EVER. Eventually I started adding more turquoise to our decor.

Like this Southern Living At HOME (now Willow House, which I am currently a rep for) painting that I got on clearance. I adore the colors.



Here they are together in our former dining area.



I like the turquoise piece better in the rental with the "fresh guacamole" paint! That's more of the direction we'll be going in our next place. I love the turquoise pitcher, too, of course.

I also spray painted my patio set turquoise. It really jazzed it up!



AND did a DIY artwork trio in shades of turquoise to brighten up our living space.



You can find the artwork tutorial HERE.



I FINALLY got my true turquoise fix when I went CRAZY and painted my former craft room Glidden's "True Turquoise."



With Glidden's "Orange Slice?" Divine! And inspiring for a creative space!



I am DEFINITELY looking forward to showcasing my love of turquoise as we decorate our next house--which we will be closing on two weeks from today! Wahoo!!

Looking for a MAJOR turquoise fix and oodles of gorgeous design inspiration?? Head on over to House of Turquoise. Talk about eye candy!! I've spent hours on this site. You'll be addicted, too!

QUESTION: What color do you looooove?? How does it make you feel?

Moving {surprises}

Tonight was the first time I went to our rental house since we toured it last weekend. My hubby had been taking loads of boxes over in the van all week then tonight we took over all the kitchen boxes I packed today.



Can I tell you how many times I've opened the drawer for a spoon or fork to find it empty?? At least five.

My hubby did it tonight, too. "Huh. No utensils? I was about to say that it seems like the stuff you'd pack way at the end, but....I guess it is way at the end."

Exaaaactly.

The Big Moving Day is Saturday so, yes, we are at the end. SURPRISE! It's here!!

The reality of the new kitchen being half the size of my current one is hitting home. There are several more boxes to unpack and my cabinets are full. And I didn't even unpack my pots and pans yet!!



SURPRISE!! I have waaaay too much kitchen stuff. I also have two boxes just of coffee and tea that have no home! I've got to do some re-prioritizing.

Then there's the stairs. I only went up to turn off the lights my son turned on and coming down, it hit me: this is my new home.

Stairs are my reality now. SURPRISE! I'll be doing the up-and-down routine hundreds of times in the next year.



But the highlight of the night was arriving at the house to discover painting supplies in the dining area. "Uuummm....Hoooneeeey??" I inquired.

"What??" My hubby asked, feigning innocence.

"Are we painting??"

We had decided to leave the red wall in the living room/dining room red. There was too much time, money and effort involved in changing it when the red was perfectly fine, especially just for a year.



"I told you we didn't have to paint that wall!" I reminded him.

"It's my new house, too, y'know," my hubby reminded me, mostly kidding. He knows I love green. He knows I wasn't overly enthusiastic about the red wall. But I was willing to work with it, rather than inconvenience anyone.

So my precious husband went to the store and picked out the perfect shade of green. The color? "Fresh Guacamole." It will go perfectly with my avocado posters in the kitchen. It is an amazing shade of green.

My husband didn't want me to settle, even for "just a year."

SURPRISE!

I need to stop settling so easily. Life is sure full of pleasant surprises and I get the feeling that I'm in for a lot of them this year. Let the adventure begin!!

1,000 Gifts "Moving On"

We're moving.

We're actually moving out of our house, the house we had built as newlyweds seven years ago. It's the house my sister-in-law lived in with us for six years, the house we brought our babies home from the hospital to, the house where we've hosted Christmas dinner and a dozen tea parties and made a million memories.

And we're moving. Like...this week.

Wow.

A week from now, we'll be spending the night in a different house.

And it hasn't sunk in yet.

I am excited! I really am.

I am looking very much forward to starting a new phase of life for our family. I know that God is leading us along and He has blessed our journey immensely in the last few months.

We asked for God to lead us, to open and close doors. The house we fell in love with on 3.25 acres that backed up to a mountain? Was rented out to someone else. Door closed. We only had one family see our house and they put in an offer and are so excited to move in. Door open. My friend's rental a block away? It won't be vacated in time. Door closed. A rental 3 miles from my husband's job, with four bedrooms and 2.5 baths that even has a "morning room" like the one I have now? Available, adorable, affordable and move-in ready. Door open.

Turns out the door He opened on our next home is green, my favorite color.



God has answered our prayers. We know He is directing our steps in this process to simplify, down-size and refocus on what's important.

And at some point, probably very soon, I will realize how much I'll miss this place. It will eventually hit me.

But for now, I decorate the new house in my mind. In my imagination, between wrapping tea cups in newspaper and stacking books in diaper boxes, I choose paint colors, I accessorize and I move furniture. I think about where we'll put the Christmas tree this year and the beachy artwork I'll hang in the downstairs powder room and the neighborhood ladies that will come over for playdates. I picture crafting upstairs while the boys play in the loft. I think about hosting Andrew's birthday party in the "tot lot" at the end of our block.

I know it will be amazing because God is in it.

21:: free boxes from friends

22:: my sister-in-law offering her guest bedroom and garage as storage

23:: my next craft room feeling like a tree house

24:: knowing how many people have prayed for us during this process

25:: praying for our future neighbors

26:: having a whole new neighborhood in which to spread the Gospel

27:: knowing there are no coincidences, only God-incidences

28:: thinking about how little "stuff" we actually need for the next year

29:: my grandmother being excited about seeing our new place when she visits

30:: not feeling stressed during a stressful time

31:: moving 70 avenues away, which isn't that far

32:: being just far enough away to really be "getting away"

33:: the prospect of a fresh start

34:: going where no one knows you

35:: being closer to my folks

36:: deepening our trust in the Lord

37:: decorating with a new color scheme

38:: a rental that's move-in ready

39:: parents who come to see our new place

40:: knowing that with God, there's no such thing as a downgrade

Check out more lists at
Holy Experience

Come tour my home!

Yes, we just put our home on the market. Know anyone who wants a great deal in the west Phoenix valley?? :)

Take a tour

HERE

Reclaiming my guest room/craft room

I can hardly believe that it has been six years since my husband's sister moved in with us.

Now, she is not a random in-law. She and I were RAs in college and she was best friends with my roommate. She was the one, in fact, that introduced me to my husband, saying, "You two might hit it off." We were engaged three months to the day that we met. So, yeah, we like her.

My hubby and I lived in an apartment for our first year of marriage then lived with my folks for about a month while our home was finishing being built. We only lived in our new house for about two months before she moved in and she's been here ever since. She occupies the bedroom at the end of the hall near the garage and her stuff takes up space all over the house, even on the back porch. Her absence will leave a void in our hearts as well as in our home.

BUT...it's time. She's ready to leave and we're ready to send her away from the nest!

AND...I get my guest room back. YES!!!! My plan is to convert it into a guest room/craft room. My mother is very excited about having a dedicated guest room after sleeping in the living room on a futon for so long!

Even though she probably won't close on her house (which is only about 1/4 mile from our house) until the end of the month, you bet I'm already making plans for that room!

Have you ever had a dream where you find a room you didn't know about, like a second kitchen or another bedroom in your house?? It's going to be a lot like that.

My first project will be re-painting the room. When I saw this bird, I knew I wanted the colors to inspire my new room.



But before I could take my bird to Lowe's to choose paint chips, I had to deal with that my SIL had already done to the room. She is a creative gal and has painted the entire room with lamp posts, vines, trees...even a castle!





It reaches onto the ceiling and although it looks really cool, it's not what I had in mind for my new craft room/guest room, so the whole room will have to be painted over.

So, I started with an inspiration piece: this piece of artwork from

Joom on Etsy

I love these colors! Plus the two birds in the nest represent my two boys! :)



I have this favorite mug as well and realized that the colors will blend well with it, too.



And that, my friends, is my color scheme. Aqua, green and orange.



It just so happens that the aqua color (the middle one) is called "Serendipity," one of my all-time favorite words that means "Finding valuable things not sought for." I love that!!! I've often said that if I opened a shop or a bed and breakfast some day, I'd work "Serendipity" into the name. It was meant to be!



I'm thinking of the top color for the ceiling. Aaaaahhhhhh.

As for furnishings, I'm moving my craft table out of my Morning Room and into this room. It will fit well on the same wall as the door. I'd love to paint it green and cover the chairs in a fun, coordinatng fabric!



Above it, I picture simple shelves on brackets like these, to hold my crafting supplies.



Opposite to that, I envisioned this day bed from IKEA but it's not in their new catalog!!



So I'll have to come up with a plan B. We really only need a twin size bed in here since we rarely have couples stay with us. I pictured it dressed in white with a ton of fun pillows in my accent colors, including this one, also from Joom on Etsy.



Above the bed, I love these vinyl wall decals!



Beyond that it would depend on what else would fit as far as a bookcase or armchair. I've taken measurements but I have no spatial skills so I can't really work out the layout. That's where my hubby will come in handy!

So I will continue to gather ideas and inspiration for this room and see how my vision comes together over time. It will be fun! It will also open up a lot of room in my Morning Room, so that will be a whole other project! I'm so excited!

Your Decorating Style

This is a fun quiz from Home Good's contributor, Deborah Needleman.

Take the quiz

HERE

Mine is COUNTRY ECLECTIC. And it's very accurate!!

"You have wide-ranging interests and influences and therefore appreciate a mix of styles, periods, and objects. You would never use a matching suite of furniture or could stand a home that seemed cookie-cutter. But you love the breezy, layered look of wonderfully personal beach houses and the happy florals of English cottages. Bringing the outdoors in makes you happy: a little chintz or ruffle or weathered furniture, urns filled with tennis rackets, colored glasses filled with cut flowers, vintage-looking, mixed tea cups, and all things that give a sense of a happy, simple life.

You value comfort. Your home is a warm and open friendly place, and you feel happiest when everyone is cared for and relaxed in your space. Elements like pillows, throws, overstuffed furniture, and good lighting set the mood. You may also enjoy layering different fabrics or mixing patterns to create a cozy effect."

When you take the quiz, you also get "putting your style to work" tips and "Your Happy Home Colors."

Take a moment and try it, it's fun!

10 minutes with The Nester

To see all the entries today, click on the link:

The Nester FINALE

I looooove a good ten-minute makeover! That fits in nicely with my schedule!

I will say that, of The Nester's four ten-minute rooms, (family room, bedroom, bathroom and kitchen), my kitchen #1, gets used the most and #2, needed the most help. My kitchen is BIG--people that actually cook are a little jealous when they come over! So my challenge is keeping it organized, as uncluttered as possible, and storing all my dishes and entertaining pieces while keeping it as user-friendly as possible. My live-in sister-in-law and my hubby are up earlier than I am so they need to be able to make their lunches and get their coffee without extra hassle. While I'm not one to go for beauty over convenience, I DO like for things to look nice--so it's a hard balance!

I'm also still recovering from a tea party I had two weeks ago so rather than cram everything back into cupboards, I set out to rearrange and purge so everything would fit back nicely. Plus I wanted to use some of The Nester's tips, of course!

Following her tips in order, here goes:

1. Unclutter. PHEW! I have a major "hot spot" in my kitchen where all the odds and ends tend to accumulate so I decided to just get rid of the paperwork I usually keep there and clear the space. Now there's just the utensil crock and a pretty mug with pens and scissors. Phone and camera charges go in the cabinet below and my paperwork goes to my desk...imagine that! I probably still need a basket to "collect" the odds and ends that will still end up here without it looking cluttered. We have to be realistic, right??



My live-in SIL's mail also tends to pile up by the microwave...



...but it does need a home, so I moved the mail sorter over there for her. The big tea cup holds her medicines and such. This spot is much better! Notice, too, that the fridge clutter got moved to this "hidden" side!



2. I'm a graduate of the Fly Lady's 28 day "program," so the shiny sink wasn't new to me, although I hadn't officially shined it in a while. You don't realize how grimy they get until you take a fine-toothed comb to it!! Here's the after.



And that whole area, looking into the dining "room"



3. I also cleared off the fridge and moved the stuff I really like/use to the hidden side (see the last after picture in #1).

Here's the before:



And AFTER:



It may or may not stay this way! People actually like to look at the pictures on the fridge but then again, it does look nice all cleared off.

This is the change that made the biggest difference...and the one my hubby noticed right away!

4. Add fabric. Any ideas on how to do this one, ladies???

5. Seating. Our son's kiddy table where he crafts and eats is in our kitchen and out dining room table is three steps away so I didn't want to add a "grown up" table. We ARE fortunate enough, however, to have a high counter with an over-hang and we do keep two stools there...but there wasn't much motivation to actually sit, so I added place mats, a plate and cup and napkin to encourage breakfast or snack dining at the bar. It looks nice!



6. Lighting. Ooo. This one is a work in progress. My lamps are all in use, except one really tall one without a lampshade so my new mission is to find a lil' guy for the kitchen. I do enjoy a cozy little lamp!!

7. Beauty. Easy. I have one of my favorite angels by my coffee station.



I also have this fun black shelf with my Willow Tree collection and some other pieces I love to look at (including the cream and sugar set from my wedding china), plus a lovely tea towel.



Next to my tea kettle, which we do use almost daily, I keep this pretty metal tray with my favorite teas for people to choose from. I find this to be a very nice touch and our guests enjoy picking their teapot and tea.



And there ya have it!!

As a side note, this took me longer than 10 minutes but I rearranged my cupboards to hide some items and to fit others I use more often.

This one holds a lot of my entertaining pieces and tea party paraphernalia.



And this one is above the coffee station where my dishes go and where I hide away the tea and coffee-making supplies.



I'm loving all of these small changes and the kitchen definitely FEELS better. Thanks, NESTER!! :)