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Feathered Nest

Picking Up Where We Left Off

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Well, this morning I got up and packed 2 little lunch boxes after having 3 and a half weeks off! Again, I found myself feverishly roaming the aisles of Vons and Ralphs over the weekend searching for lunch box worthy items that my kids will eat and that are not complete junk.

We made it up and to school on time in the freeezing So Cal temps and it feels good to start back into our weekly school routine. No more late to bed and late to rise. No more jammies ’til noon.

Our Winter Break was wonderful and even though it was almost a month long, it flew by. I was thumbing through my camera roll this morning while sipping my coffee and couldn’t help but smile.

Our break was full of…

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{package shipping}

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{advent candle lighting}

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{cookie baking}

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{manger viewing}

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{blessing bag delivering}

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{sno-cone slurping}

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{gallery wall hanging}

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{In-N-Out lunching}

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{fro-yo play dating}

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{Vegas date night laughing}

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{Lolo & Lola enjoying}

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{pearly white polishing}

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{prayer bead making and reconciliation preparing}

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Twenty-Thirteen is already proving to be a busy one…the pages on my new Much Ado About You planner already have glitter gel penned commitments into the month of May! I love having big things on the calendar to look forward to, but at the same time I like quiet, family weekends where we work around the house and go on outings to Hollywood, LA or Santa Monica.

Right now I’m enjoying preparing for Holden’s 6th birthday party. How can it be? I recall printing the invites and gathering goodies for his 1st birthday celebration like it was yesterday……

Here is a hint to this year’s theme {because you KNOW there is a theme, right?}…

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I’m so excited. Elliott’s 1st birthday was jungle/safari themed so I am loving coming up with similar {wild} ideas, but for an older crowd this time ~ kind of bittersweet because this is the last big party for Holden. From here on out, the birthday festivities will be much lower key and include just a few friends.

Still with a theme, of course.

Happy Monday, all!

XO

Torture

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I am writing this post merely to help pass the time until I can put the second coat of chalkboard paint on my soon-to-be MENU.

{after first coat}

I’m tryyyying to be a patient crafter and wait the recommended 4 hours between coats, but the reality of the situation is that I want the last coat to be dry, the tape off, the chalkboard conditioned, a sweet sentiment sprawled across it and hung on the wall.

Torture, I tell you.

This is the look that I am trying to achieve….

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I am loving the gold, ornate frame around a black chalkboard these days…

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Once this baby is all complete, I will let you know all the steps needed to whip up one of these beauties at home.

So far, so good. Pretty easy.

It’s the waiting that’s KILLING me.

Model Home

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Growing up we had a lot of little neighborhoods popping up in our community. We would wander through the model homes on the weekends and I always remember thinking and asking my parents, “Why can’t our house look like a model home?” My mom and dad would laugh and say, “It’s because we LIVE in it.”

Noooowwwww I get it!

Sometimes sitting and perusing beautiful blogs can be inspiring, yet at the same time it can be overwhelming. Am I missing something? How on earth do these ladies keep such spotless and organized homes?

How they do it doesn’t matter. I need to come up with a way that works for me. I will admit I don’t spend as much time as I should making our house a home. But I do love the days when I putz around and spend time in little areas and get them just the way I want them. I’ve been trying to do that this summer…I’ll go upstairs and spend some time tidying up or rearranging and will return downstairs to find it a disaster with scraps of paper all over, blankets on the floor, Lego explosions, etc. Or vice versa, I’ll be cleaning up the kitchen downstairs and the kids will DESTROY the upstairs all the way from their rooms down the hall to our room. I’m not going to lie, it’s frustrating.

I know that it’s not realistic to keep a spotless, everything-in-it’s-place home 24/7. But I would like to find a happy medium…like you know when you hustle around and straighten up, dust, vacuum, Windex and fluff the pillows before a party or hosting guests? Well, I want our home to look like that on a semi-daily basis. For US. Then, when we do have guests over, there’s not so much running around and stressing about the dog hair in the corners and the random Lego pieces under the buffet table.

When both kids start school full time in about 3 and a half weeks, I am going to go through our place room by room, from floor to ceiling and purge, organize, arrange and deep clean. Like I said, I’ve already started this summer, but am running into road blocks here and there which happens when kiddos are around….I get it.

So, with that said, I clicked around on Pinterest and peeped out some organizational techniques that I hope to put to use in the next couple months and get this place clutter-free and streamlined!

We have gorgeous built-ins in our Master closet and I hope to pretty them up with a jewelry display like this…

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Weed out and arrange our kitchen gadget drawer so it looks a little something like this…

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And our garage needs some love. We have lots of shelves and cabinets so there is no reason not to have things organized or tucked away and out of sight…

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Looking forward to, not so much making our home look like a model home, but making it the model of a livable, happy, useable and smart space.

Before and after photos to come…

What are your tips for keeping an organized home? I’d LOVE to hear them!

XO

Hole{s} In The Wall

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Lately I am obsessed with gallery walls.

I’ve mentioned our WHITE walls here a million times, but I’m actually not minding them as much when I hang clusters of pictures, artwork and whatnot on them and create a little gallery.

I’m in the process of doing one in Elliott’s room with some vintage plates, a mirror, a frame and whatever else comes to mind.

Here are a few that jumped out at me on Pinterest.

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I hesitate putting so many holes in the walls since I’m not sure how much longer we’ll be living here, but while we ARE here, I want the kids to feel that their rooms are {finished} and that we’re not in some sort of temporary holding tank…which is how I’ve felt for the past 3 and a half years.

And here are a few recent groupings that I’ve hung making the white more bright and tolerable…

{going up the stairs}

{landing at the top of the stairs where the kids’ reading nook is}

{downstairs in our great room}

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I have enjoyed scouring stores, thrift shops and garage sales for old frames, making a few crafts here and there and employing a can or two of spray paint to create these little spaces. It’s amazing too what things you can find around the house to add to these galleries. Again, the most boring, Goodwill bound item can be transformed quickly and easily with a can of Rustoleum and hung with a hammer and a nail.

And {another} hole in the wall.

The Week According To Instagram

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Meant to sit down and do a {turn your old, outdated framed print into a chalkboard} tutorial this week, but others things happened.

On Tuesday morning I got caught in some traffic on the way to Woodland Hills…

Because of a darling striped, ruffled shirt I spotted in Instagram {thanks, Richelle!}, I went on a wild goose chase for one {or two} for myself:

{now can you see why I had to have one? I got yellow & white…the pink is for the person responsible for all this! [wink wink]}

While whizzing through Wal-mart, my no sweets havin’ self spied these…

{it’s ON after Lent}

On Wednesday morning, I started a load of laundry before walking Elliott to school. By the grace of God I was upstairs brushing my teeth when the washer started overflowing. I immediately turned off the water, placed a call to the management office and waited for the fix-it guy…

{turns out there was just a hole in some hose that didn’t allow air in for the sensor thingy to signal that the water level was high enough…or something technical like that}

Fix-it guy said we could’ve had LOTS of water damage of I hadn’t been there to turn off the machine. Phew!

{this is Rascal sitting on my lap while we were waiting for fix-it guy}

Just when I was feeling down about our WHITER than WHITE walls, I realized that I will take white walls any day of the week if the are home to my babies’ fun artwork.

Cheeseburger Chopped Salad was what was for dinner on Wednesday…

Everything you’d put on a burger, but the bun!

{turkey burger sliders, chopped romaine, cheddar cheese shreds, tomato, red onion, pickles, jalapeños, real bacon bits and avocado all tossed in a bit of ranch dressing}

It was deee-lish.

Thursday Woody went to school for share day. When the letter of the week was K. Oh well, at least he buckled up for safety.

My brown-eyed, freckle nosed, side pony wearin’ girl….

Fish sticks for dinner…

Friday morning brought this gorgeous sunrise…

Getting a quick Easter gift ready for Elliott’s sweet, deserving teacher…

{reusable tumbler with little iced tea packets inside}

A trip to the mall to scope out some Easter duds…

Found some possible options for next to nothing…

{dress, $6-something and shirt, $4 ~ The Children’s Place}

Next a trip to have a picnic and feed the {duckings} as Holden calls them…

{with Ryan stocking up on bread}

{tossing bread}

{Fought the crowds at Circle K for our chance to be gazillionaires}

{we’re not gazillionaires after all}

Hit up Mickey D’s for a cone to kill time before dance class…

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Not too bad of a week leading up to Spring Break!

Looking forward to a fun-filled week at home ~ visiting with friends that are moving to Australia {wah!}, coloring Easter eggs, sending off Easter greetings in the mail, frolicking with Gramma, hopefully painting a chalkboard or two and making some headway on sanding and painting my little table that I’ve been putting off for a year and a half!

Linking up with Jeannett over at Life Rearranged! Come over and say, “Hello!”

life rearranged

Inspired by Amy

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Happy Spring!

I’m a loser….guess what color I wore today.

Black.

Head to toe, nearly.

Gotta change that…

I did, however, spy a couple Amy Butler organic comforter sets while shopping for some birthday gifts today at Ross.

I almost died. Amy Butler at Ross?

Love her bright, floral, whimsically happy fabrics.

I ended up with the {Dream Poppy} set ~ feast your eyes…..

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$34.99.

I have a little two-drawer table that I have been needing to paint for a million years and now I have inspiration for the color!

Tomorrow I’m going to focus on our master bedroom and remove every Lego, American Girl Doll shoe, random crayon and stuffed animal and return it to where it belongs. I am going to chase away all dust bunnies and vacuum every crack and crevice!

Making room for Amy Butler and a more {adult space}….if you know what I mean.

Tired of waking up to Buzz Lightyear on the floor next to me.

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Time to get my annual daffodils at Trader Joe’s, too!

Spring has sprung.

XO

The Stockings Were {Still} Hung…

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I hated taking down the stockings from the fireplace after Christmas.

While I was out scouring the sales on holiday goodness, I thought about finding some red {or pink. or white.} stockings and transforming them into Valentine’s Day stockings.

I picked up a sparkly “E” ornament at Kohl’s and an equally, if not more sparkly, “H” pin at Target since I knew I wanted to include the kiddos’ initials.

While picking up some more paint chips at Home Depot, I spotted these felt stockings for 2 bucks a piece. I LOVED the scalloped detail on them, but needed the embroidered snowflakes to melt away. Enter Joann’s and a few Valentiney quarter yards of fabric and the flakes disappeared!

I adore the way they turned out…

Several red & pink hued paint chips and some twine and you have your V-day bunting…

I wasn’t very good with advent over the holidays so it’s my goal to make up for it and have a little something special tucked in these stockings from February 1st to the 14th ~ I also wanted to find a little Valentine Fairy of sorts and have her move around the house like our Elf on the Shelf, Ferb. They have been asking about him lately…..

Checking {the big P} for some ideas for fun classmate goodies.

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Having a couple stockings and a wreath still gracing our mantel makes the absence of the holidays a little sweeter!

Happy Day!

XO

Linking up over at What I Whipped Up Wednesday @ Sugar and Dots!

And come get some fantastic Valentine’s Day mantel inspiration by clicking on the button below…

Home Stories A2Z

Dear Monday

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Dear Monday,

I {heart} you because…

you are the prelude to a new week filled with endless possibilities!

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Found this darling FREE printable on Pinterest {of course!} and fell in love.

Grab an old 8X10 frame and print out this bad boy ~ looks fine on regular old printer paper, but I used photo paper.

I think it’ll be cute to place one in each of the kids’ rooms and one downstairs to remind the ones I love WHY I {heart} them.

{and a good way to reward good behavior for the little ones!}

Something fun leading up to Valentine’s Day…

…and everyday for that matter.

Here’s to a great week!

XO

Hello, I Love You! ~ Kitchens

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I spend A LOT of time in the kitchen and I am always dreaming of bigger, better and more counter space!

My pantry is small and missing one shelf.

I have clutter on my counters.

My cookbooks are up and out of the way, but out of sight means out of mind so unfortunately I don’t use them as much as I’d like.

So, when Heather over at Angel Face Designs mentioned a new little linky party that lets one showcase all the little things they L.O.V.E., I knew I had to jump in when I could out the first prompt was KITCHENS!

{Someday} I will get the pantry organized and I would love for it to look a little somethin’ like this.

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Our last couple kitchens have had darker{ish} wood cabinets. They’re gorgeous, but I adore white in a kitchen and my next kitchen will be lighter and brighter like this beauty!

How about that old-fashioned aqua stove?

And that retro fridge….

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Loving these two ledges for displaying dog-eared cookbooks ~ easy to switch out and adds fun color!

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This cucina is a beautiful mix of rustic, modern, country and a little glitz & glamour with that chandelier…

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And I LOVE the idea of a chalkboard fridge…the old skool green is a fun twist!

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And our next kitchen will hopefully include a little command center that will be all. my. own.

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Thanks for the inspiration, Heather!

Dreaming sure is fun.

Come see what others are lovin’ over at Angel Face Designs!

Ruled Paper & Scotch Tape

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Look out HGTV ~ we have a way of covering walls with good old-fashioned school/office supplies.

Just get yourself some ruled notebook paper and some tape leftover from Christmas wrapping and you can customize any room to your liking.

Peace signs & hearts if you’re a first grader.

Elliott recently semi took over our guest room as her room. I hate that it cannot BE her room, but we need to have somewhere for our {most welcome} guests to lay their heads when they do come…

We are still in the process of removing things and finding a new home for them…like the side rail to their old crib, Jay’s and my old skool CD collection which is now pretty much obsolete, the vintage fruit prints that I adopted from my Mom when she downsized that I just couldn’t allow her to get rid of and the vacuum cleaner.

She knew that she had to immediately add some color to the white walls {my daughter!} so with that she started drawing peace signs and hearts, cutting them out, coloring them and taping them to the walls.

She wanted me to write “Shake It Up” {her new fav} in bubble letters and color them in rainbow for her…believe me, it’s the least I can do!

Since this is a temporary fix, I have been on the lookout for an inexpensive comforter and some new sheets.

We have a date to go to Home Depot on Tuesday morning when Holden is in school to get some pink & purple paint chips to make a bunting and will also see if we can’t still find some little white lights in the 75% off Christmas crap still on the shelves somewhere ~ I thought those would be cute outlining the plantation shutters.

Looking forward to making it her own for the time being on the CHEAP! I have found ideas for her {forever} room on Pinerest, but now I need to search for some quick fixes without putting a million holes in the walls.

Here is some {pin}spiration eye candy for her {hopefully in the not too distant future} dream room:

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I’m afraid for now ruled paper & scotch tape will have to do.

I wonder if CeCe & Rocky would approve…..

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