Fabulous Birthday!

Wow! I am just so happy STILL from the amazing birthday I had yesterday! My husband had a zillion notes (okay that is exaggerating) but there were a lot, all over the bathroom mirror for me to wake up and read. I had my parents call and sing to me each on their way to work. I snuggled in bed flipping through Domino magazines to verify bedroom ideas, then read to my snugglebug Kaiden.

After a barrage of emails, texts and facebook comments I felt like a Princess! (I have never been big on being a Queen, I guess because my name means Princess I cling to that vision!) ;) My husband took off half the day to surprise me with streamers, balloons, cake, flowers, presents and a day of shopping. He is amazing and such a wonderful man! I am so blessed with him! I also took him to heart and literally shopped for hours!!! He was great at helping pick out curtains, rods, bedding, sheets, unmentionables at Victoria's Secret, candles, clothes at the Limited and continuously saying "Go For It"!

I will post pics of my new sheets very soon! I got them at a steal for $25 (at Tuesday Morning's) and they will match the new bedding set I was longing for and found tucked deep into google on craigslist brand new for $245!!! WOW!!!






I am so excited about everything I got and how it all fell into place. I truly felt God's favor because I have sensed for 2 weeks now that my bedroom plans would fall into place on my birthday but I didn't imagine how easy it would be! The ONE pair of gray floral just happened to be at Tuesday Morning and they just happened to be Queen and cheaper than any other set there! The curtains we wanted they "just happened" to have the only 4 panels we needed in stock and on sale. They "just happened" to have the new Victoria's Secret candles that I love on sale for buy 2 get 1 free and I "just happened" to have two coupons, so it cost me barely more than two candles to get 3 and 4 new pairs of undies. I am just one of those girls that has learned to recognize where that "just happened" feeling comes from...my God is mighty and he cares about all things that I care about! Even saving money, having pretties, matching things up and knowing he directed it all like a beautiful orchestra just amazes me! :)

Inspired and Desired!

Finally! I woke up this morning and I had clarity and vision! Maybe it is because it is my birthday and I realized I can want things and actually get them! :) But whatever it is...I found a fairly clear vision of what I want in my bedroom...I still need to pick the shade of gray for the paint, but this is the general idea. I will be shopping with hubby today but a lot of these things I think I am settled on what I want and getting them. Then it will be the painting and rearranging dressers and accents in our bedroom that will finalize the look! What do you think? I am getting so excited to actually buy paint and change things for the better! :)

We actually only need the chandelier which my girlfriend plans to buy me for my birthday present...then the bench which my mom plans to buy me also for my birthday. Then bedding which I found on ebay and craigslist in the size I need and NEW! Yeah! The nightstand tables I already have that are exactly like that, I might either paint the wood black and then paint the inserts silver or wondered about painting them with chalkboard paint in the insert as well? Might not be very downtown glamorous though, so maybe the silver is better! Then the last thing to get is the paint and the curtains which I plan to go check out at JCP today, they say they are light blocking which would be nice. I am considering since they are simple ring top panels that I might buy a piece of black or silver faux silk to add some shimmer as a valance over the top or sew it to the bottom to add drapery to the floor.

I am so excited!!! Thanks for following me on my journey and sorry if it has been boring to see nothing happen, if you think you were going crazy...just think about looking at it blankly every day wanting it changed and having no vision! ;)

Yay!!!!

Amazing Contest!

There is a contest happening right now, don't miss your opportunity to enter! You could win a $100 gift certificate to Kasey's fabulous shop Lola B's Boutique where you could get items like these:




or your choice of one of these fabulous pillows from Sa-Sea Boutique like the one above or these:

















As you can tell, I am partial to the French themed ones! Be still my heart! I Love French style!
So many great things to choose from, good luck!!!

Here is the link to enter: HERE

Stain Stain Go Away...

So, I quit blogging about it and finally got outside yesterday for almost 5 hours and stained about 1/4 of our fence. Whew! I am thrilled that we went from this:


to this:


I still have plenty to do tomorrow, Monday and possibly Tuesday. I know many of you are thinking don't you have 5 boys that could help? Depends on what you mean by help? If you mean they are available to complain, compare who has the best brush, wait until their brother is staining to even get their brush wet and then randomly discover when you come in the house that partial pieces of wood have been lightly or darkly stained...then yes I do. But if you mean to help make it match the work I have already done, then no I don't. So, while I braved the sun and got a dark sunburn on my shoulders and neck yesterday, I march on towards the finally finished fence for another 3 years...

In other news, since today threatens rain tonight I couldn't enjoy the cloudy perfect weather staining, so it found me buying dog food and finding garage sales. I so badly wanted to be a feature writer that found a perfect furniture piece for $1, painted it and made it fabulous for another $2 investment and totally stole the blog show for the day. But alas, today was not that day. I did see some cheap furniture and even had a woman offer to go lower on some pretty wicker shelves in various sizes that were already marked $20! I was so tempted, picturing the can of black spray paint ready in my basement but then the horrible issue of WHERE DO I PUT IT comes in!

I was able to score some like new Nike snowboard pants for my oldest son for $7, a Home and Garden urn for $2 shown here and it even came with freshly cut peonies that actually match my living room, be still my heart!!!!


I found some clothes that were $.50 and $.75 in perfect condition that I am reselling on craigslist. Plus, I found flowers at two different garage sales for $.10/bunch to $.50/bunch. Faux flowers are my favorite, but I prefer when they look real and believable! When they look fake I pass! I found some perfect for fall and a few white ones I have added around the house. Add in a new American Eagle t-shirt for me for $.50 and a pretty girly white ruffled jacket for $2 and I had a successful day! It is currently in the dryer, I might just wear it to church on Sunday and even for our family portraits outside on Sunday!!!

I need advice...what should we do for our outdoor family portraits? Regular clothes? All black? Certain colors? White and black? I need ideas, we are going to a lush green area outside near a pond and weeping willow where we have gotten fabulous pictures before.

Have a great weekend!

That was Random!

Do you remember the slang or "key phrases" you used when you were growing up? I can think of a ton of them! Psych! There was also Doi! Of course everyone knows the famous "valley girl" talk of "Like, Oh My God!" Or just adding "Like" to every sentence you say! Then there was the "Whatever" phase. I am sure if I just looked up a few sitcoms I used to watch I could easily find more, I was born just a little late to be into the "What's Happening" and "hey, hey, hey Fat Albert" days. There was still a little "cool", "jiving", and oh yea at the end of my teen years it seems that is when "fat" came into play, which was quickly changed to "phat"....

In googling oh my goodness here come the memories...ready? "Gag me with a spoon", "Bogus", "That was the bomb", "butt ugly", "airhead", "Chill"--oh man did we over use that!!!!!
"have a cow", "Fresh", "Totally", "tubular dude", "wannabe", "veg", "stoked", "wicked". Wow, now that I want to lace up my high top Reeboks with my two pairs of socks, throw a banana clip in my hair, eat a ring pop, wear a shirt hanging off one shoulder thrown over a pair of shorts you can't even tell I am wearing and head to the skating rink....I will compose myself and remember that I don't own those things anymore so it would cost a lot of money on ebay or searching at goodwill to embarrass my husband with that kind of motif, so I move on...

I bring these things up to share a wonderful time in my children's life right now, they are finding terms to share constantly. One of course that doesn't amuse me at all is the loosely used "what the heck?" Uhm, do people not recognize what this is quickly getting our kids to utter? Maybe I am old fashioned but I was raised where heck was as bad as he-double hockey sticks and we didn't say that! Another one that has entered into our household is when someone says something the response is a big "Wow!" Which often in our house has been "Wow, Dad!" So when my husband does something silly I often say "WoW, Dad!" to him.

Last night, I had a great time taking Dakota to the grocery store after church at around 9:30pm. It was my double coupon/last day of the sale day to shop, so I always go Wednesday nights. We spent an hour shopping, laughing and my favorite part was how we kept trying to top each other with the "latest and greatest phrase" "RANDOM" I am not sure where this came from but it is actually quite amusing when the kids use it. Say my 5 year old Kaiden all of a sudden asks about wasps in the backseat of the van while we are on the way to the grocery store or whatever, then after he finishes the discussion you hear..."That was random". I am not sure why, but because of the newness I die laughing every time. So, last night meandering through aisles, teasing my son, grabbing good deals and even getting a chance to embarrass him--as I loudly announced "Dakota those teenage girls are over THERE did you want to go talk to them?" He and I both died laughing because of course I didn't say it loud enough for them to hear but acted like they could and they were being so loud there was no chance they were listening! We unloaded groceries and raced to call things random. What a fun time with my son who is about to be 11 years old. I truly cherish that we have this closeness and that he can joke and relax with me even at a grocery store!

So today, look for something that is random and call it out and see if you don't laugh as you utter the phrase!

P.S. I also have to add one last funny note about last night, we flipped through the radio stations on the way home as the dj talked about barhopping and was about to utter a few explicit remarks so I flipped the station quickly. Dakota said, "Mom, what is bar hopping? Basically, just going to a bar and hopping around?" To which I replied, "Yes, son, these are the horrible things in the world that I am trying to shield you from, you can get really hurt hopping all night long, maybe break an ankle, I just shudder at the thought!" To which we laughed for 5 blocks until we drove into the garage! Wow, that was random!

Have a great day!

Summer Time is almost here!

Doesn't this picture make you crave summer? I am so anxious for summer this year...no idea why. I think I have delusions that I will meet all my favorite online blogging friends in IL, that the rooms I desperately want painted will just happen overnight, my basement will quit laughing at me everytime I mention that I will get it downsized and actually have that stick for longer than a month...etc, etc.

What are you looking forward to this summer? I love grilling and BBQing, I am from Kansas City where we know to rival tastes because we do meat WELL!!! On top of my mom's fabulous "summer salad" that was always so good that I would eat half of it with my fingers before the BBQ was done! The smell of sunscreen is the best thing in the world even though I HATE using it--it is good on the kids though! I prefer the light sunscreen that allows me to attempt to get color on my transparent Wisconsin body! Yes, that's right, there are ghosts in WI, but it is actually just the people who have been hibernating for 6 months out of the year...you can see right through them! LOL

I am making my lists, filling my calendar, anxiously ready to have the sun warm me, read the numerous books I have stocked up on, revamp that bedroom and get it off my mind, stain our fence the RIGHT color--argh had a mistake happen after I got 1/4 of it done a couple months ago! Numerous other things come to mind...what are you doing?

My favorite revelation so far this year has come directly from God who reminded me of the late summer when my children will whine and say it is too hot to even swim outside and beg to sit indoors. Which is when I will make up for our spring fling time where we pushed our schoolbooks aside and went out and basked in the perfect air and gardened. Where we rode bikes and played with the dog all day. Many studies say that boys need to be outdoors more, so I figured my two were advanced for all the time they were getting outside to be...BOYS!

I think I will pick up some strawberries and make a strawberry lemonade and hit Home Depot for some paint samples, sounds like a good start to me!

Recipe Share!

Wow, so I just happened to pick up some Barilla Orzo pasta on a buy 1 get 1 free sale months ago. I had no idea how to prepare it, it had a soup recipe on the back...but now that it is almost summer my kids aren't big on soup! Sooo, what to do, what to do? I was dying to try something new (hey I just rhymed!).

In honor of my dear friend moving away to attend Rhema Bible College, we had her over and I pulled out the orzo pasta at the last minute and decided I would google and find "something". I thawed chicken breasts and had fresh spinach from our trip to the Amish country on Friday. Low and behold I found a recipe that I enjoyed so much I made it two nights in a row!!!

The kids LOVED IT! So I have to share it here!

Recipe:
* 1 cup uncooked orzo pasta (I just used a box)
* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 2 cloves garlic
* 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
* 2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into bite-size pieces
* salt to taste
* 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
* 2 cups fresh spinach leaves
* grated Parmesan cheese for topping

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add orzo pasta, cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until al dente, and drain.

2. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat, and cook the garlic and red pepper 1 minute, until garlic is golden brown. Stir in chicken, season with salt, and cook 2 to 5 minutes, until lightly browned and juices run clear. Reduce heat to medium, and mix in the parsley and cooked orzo. Place spinach in the skillet. Continue cooking 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until spinach is wilted. Serve topped with Parmesan cheese.

Here is the link to recipe so you can have it made into a printable card or what have you. RECIPE LINK I got loose with the measurements because I was cooking for 8 people so I made 6-7 chicken breasts and sliced them into bite sized pieces before I cooked them, then I used numerous sprinkles of garlic powder instead of actual garlic--less after stink for people I think. I made the box of orzo which amazingly fed all of us with some having seconds! If you are the type of cook that can do it by smell, then don't measure, smell what you need...that is what I did . I loved how the crushed red pepper were completely undetected in this recipe! You actually enjoy the wilted pieces of spinach in it so use more than less. This recipe was fabulous and I served it with Vienna sliced bread from the bakery--yum so soft and perfect with a little butter! I also served spring mix/standard lettuce and butter lettuce mixed and had numerous dressings offered but my favorite is the Tuscan Italian by Kraft. This was a fabulous meal and I hope you enjoy it and add it to your recipe box soon! :)

I will be posting a few things this week so keep up with me! :)
Have a great day!

Project Thoughts

We have had a busy week, the wake, a full blown birthday celebration weekend for our first of 4 birthdays in June! But...I am still heavily thinking about my bedroom project. I am starting to tread on new thoughts and ideas but a little fearful of the outcome and pull together.

I keep being drawn to a taupe or muted gray with brown. Shocking right? Kind of a different color scheme to put together, but I keep seeing subtle things that tell me it will work...like my Kleenex box, there was also something in the movie "He's Just Not That Into You" that triggered me to see that maybe it is a new trend. I have the past success of being ahead of my time with my taste, but my insecurity often keeps me from acting until I know people are onboard! :)

SO here are some thoughts, painting my black metal bedframe silver or white???
I have a mirror that I love, but I am contemplating...decoupage or fabric overlay to cover the design on it with a neat paper or something? It did occur to me that I need to find an inexpensive glaze as I was picturing using the diamond glaze I use for tile necklaces but that is super pricey and also would be a huge pain with the bubbles and making sure they didn't appear! Hmmm...rustoleum happen to carry a clear shiny glaze? I am hoping to go for a glam type look in our bedroom that makes you feel Chicago uptown/sexy married (with NO kids) and luxurious. I saw a picture recently that totally brought out that feeling for me and sure enough, gray room....
Who would want a gray bedroom? I guess me???

Throughout the post click on the pictures so you can see the full details, sorry some of them are too big..


No, I am not blind, I know this isn't gray or silver, but I noticed that I like the tucked in look of the curtains, not sure if it would shorten my ceiling too much, but I also like the installed mini lights above them. There is a olive silk shimmer fabric I contemplated getting to make the curtains you can see below in my other post, wondering if I could do something like that to bring out some shimmer in other places in the room. This is getting to be a fun mental process! :)


Be still my heart...wouldn't you love to have this wallpaper? Sigh!

Hmmm...maybe a cheap option would be to adhere cut mirrors to my existing nightstands in the place where is it white panels. Hmm...I can also paint them white or black and add new knobs--something I haven't spent anytime in the past doing on any of our dressers!
WOW! Look at the feel of these colors in the space together! This is so inspirational...


This gives me hope for a chandelier in our bedroom too...only $40 at Ikea!


or this one from Target for $59:


This is my favorite so far though...at a consignment store right near my house!! Gorgeous! Hmm...what will my husband think?


I would love any feedback and ideas, these things are starting to flow better as I spend more time on it! :)

Have a great day!
Sarah