Be a Good Egg

Seeing how this is the EVE of my BIRTHDAY MONTH, I would like to take this fantastic opportunity to remind ALL my friends and family that my BIRTHDAY is approaching. Get excited.

Happy Friday!

Yellow Door. Check.

After seeing this post on young house love, the idea of having a yellow door consumed my thoughts. I initiated my search for the perfect yellow for our front door and blogged this post. Well…I finally did it with 1 coat of primer and 3 coats of yellow paint. A black drab-like front door for us is no longer displayed. The door is now bold and beautiful.

I left the inside and outside crease of the door black. The inside of the front door is white but I’ll show you that side later. I got the crease idea from an image I saw on ish and chi. Now I need to spruce up the rest of our front porch with something. I plan to spiff it up this weekend. Any ideas?

A Run to Remember

This month in Oklahoma we remember those killed, survived and changed forever on April 19, 1995. This was a day of loss but also a day that our state came together to help those in need. To learn more, please visit Oklahoma City’s Memorial website. Each year Oklahoma City hosts the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon to come together again and remember.

Originally, I had set out to run the marathon this year. I even got my friend Taylor excited about this run. She began her routine and scheduled training around her law school schedule. While I started out bound and determined, I failed miserably with my training for this event. The run was held last weekend and Taylor finished her first 1/2 marathon. We're so proud of her and hope to run with her next year.

Scanning paper doesn't help the picture's quality but I couldn't resist. Tay's face as she crosses the finish line is priceless.

Taylor and me enjoying a Fiat tour the week of her wedding in Italy, August 2009. Good friends encouraging each other to do good things.

Leak is Fixed

Lee and I have been updating our appliances one by one. The dishwasher was on the list but seeing how it is birthday season in both of our families, we thought we would hold off buying a gift for ourselves. Well...sooner came rather than later. We noticed a big wet spot in the carpet of our dining room the other night. Turns out that our dishwasher's pump was worn thin and needing to be replaced.

I'm sure dad felt lucky to be in town when we noticed the leak! In this picture Dad, Cooper and Lee are trying to find the source of the leak. We were hoping only a hose needed to be tightened. Wrong.

Delivered yesterday, this is the newest addition to our family.

"Eating In" Room

A good time with my family and friends almost always revolves around food. Creating an enjoyable, fun place to eat is important to me.

Our family makes a big ado for holidays, birthdays and even a theatrical debut in a school play. For any family event; food is always planned, prepared and feasted on until a pant's top button needs to be undone.

My friends and I have recently started, "Game Night". This is a night when each couple will bring a course of a planned meal to our house. We will then chow continuously through the evening until the wine bottle runs dry or we become tired of Taylor beating us at every game.

Today my ideal-at-the-moment dream house tour is being led into the dining room/breakfast nook. House Beautiful provides several images that are absolutely gorgeous; always making it hard to narrow my pick.

While I'm not crazy about the coral and blue for my personal dining room, I do love the brown walls. The brown has a way of making the space feel warm and inviting. The "twig" looking frame is a keeper too.

I want my breakfast nook to feel clean and alive. Make me feel like I've had 10 cups of coffee and I can run a marathon after 5 pm on a work day. These color choices are bold and beautiful. I may need to mix in some more masculine touches if I can even begin to get my hubby to go for this but I do love it.

Chair Update

You may remember this post about this fabric I bought to upholster a chair for my living room. Lee and I have been casually searching for a replacement chair. I can't begin to tell you how many furniture stores we've entered and left empty handed. I would find a chair that I loved but it's too pricey material made it ridiculous to buy and then strip. Then enters....Craigslist. I stumbled across this beauty a few weeks ago and forwarded the link to Lee. Surprisingly, Lee came home with it one night last week! I about fell over when he walked through the door with it. Even better, it was listed for $60 and Lee got it for $40. I was even more impressed to learn that it came from a nice home that Lee says I would love. Smoke free too. Now, imagine it with my yummy houndstooth fabric. You like?

Geek Out Moments

I truly geek out for designing reality shows. Design Star, Top Design, 9 By Design and my absolute favorite; Project Runway keep me glued to my DVR. Project Runway's season finale was last night and it was dramatic! I could not be happier with the results. Although Seth Aaron's looks weren't all wearable in my personal closet, he definitely deserved this win for his wow experience he gave us as each of his models walked the runway. Seth Aaron remained professional throughout the competition and I loved his humble attitude when he won. I did enjoy Mila and Emilio's collection but not nearly as much as Seth Aaron's collection. Mila's was well constructed but expected and Emilio's was wearable but safe. Still, I can't wait to see what they all will do next!

Seth Aaron's model, Kristina, rocked this look. I would wear this in an instant by losing the gloves and leggings, adding a pair of simple black pumps and sporting a pony tail.

The Reunion "After" Show seemed more like a whiny baby festival. Although, Ping’s tears and Emilio’s diva attitude were nothing compared to Jay’s evilness. I was extremely shocked by Jay's petty comment towards model Cerri, after discussing her personal opinions of his designs. I gasped and my jaw dropped to the ground. I think Cooper even looked disgusted by Jay's reaction when he told Cerri he'd never hire a model with bad teeth and thick legs. Seems someone was never taught to be classy not trashy. His Project Runway role will forever be smudged by his immaturity and vile comment he made on national television. If he can't handle a bad critique than he sure as heck wouldn't be able to handle being a celebrity designer anyway.

Study Progress

I'm not a slacker. Little by little I have been piecing together our study when I can. Still, far from completion, I wanted to share a peek with you. I love an abundance of tulips. Don't you? You shouldn't squint to see what is in the picture frames because I haven't placed anything in there yet!

Are you there Sunshine? It's me, Erin

It rained all weekend but the rain didn't prevent a whirlwind of events from occurring. Lee had another drill weekend. He came home hungry and full of OCS (Officer Candidate School) updates. I, on the other hand, hosted a successful bridal shower for my friend, Kimberly.

Monogrammed "B" and zebra printed tissues and "Something Blue" cupcakes for guests. The color blue inspired our invitations and our shower location.

Lee returned home Sunday shortly after the shower concluded. We packed and headed North to attend Tommy's funeral the following day. The rain did force me to put off painting our front door. I was afraid the paint would dry with that tacky texture from all the humidity but I did buy the paint! Until sunshine greets us, the paint sits in our garage.

Splash of Yellow

I’m REALLY digging yellow right now. I want to splash it everywhere. I’m already planning to splash it all over our study but where else can I splash it?! We’re approaching another drill weekend and I’m seriously considering painting our front door yellow. Our door is currently black and drab. Yellow would make it bold, cheerful and interesting. Is that not what I wanted when we discussed entryway design??? Lee will definitely think its interesting when he returns home to a colorful door...We'll see if he reads my blog...

Designing for Baby

Our sweet friends, Allyson and Josh, have been surprising us with their creative innovations. After finding out the gender of their firstborn, Allyson immediately got busy preparing Rian’s room. Together, Josh and Allyson renovated her grandmother’s already fabulous dresser for Rian’s pink and green nursery. The dresser had good bones so it was easy to add their own touch of personality. Allyson says they used 3 coats of pink paint, crackle gel paint and then an antique white finish. Rian is now 2 weeks old and has the perfect nook in her dresser for pictures.

Allyson then added some “bling” to Rian’s boring onesies! Fabric, Wonder Under and scissors helped complete the look. Easy peasy. A nursery wouldn’t be complete without letters! Building blocks, the alphabet and books; letters are everywhere. What better way to help your baby learn their special name than to display it on the wall in some fashion? Scrapbook paper coordinating with Rian’s bedding , Mod Podge, ribbon and a few super cute hooks from Hobby Lobby created an easy addition of wall art. I'm excited to see more. What’s next Allyson!? This is Allyson and me when we were roommates in college! Twin, Kimberly is in the background...

Meatloaf

Lee’s 92 year old grandmother had a heart attack last week and is miraculously recovering. One of his best friends from high school passed away this morning. Tommy had been battling Cancer for over a year now. We find comfort in knowing he is no longer in pain. If you follow this blog, you know that it has been one hectic roller coaster of events in our household this year. It’s important for us to remember God’s grace and to live each day humbly bowed. To trust steadily in God, hope unshakably, love extravagantly and remember that the best of the three is love. With this in mind, Lee and I shared a nice dinner last night around the dining room table with my dad in town for business. We'll always have meatloaf.

Bang Drama

Lately, I feel like I'm sporting Donald Trump comb over hair. I've donned bangs for awhile now. Goodbye blunt bangs and side sweep bangs. Hello, Trump bangs. Ugh! I'm at that awkward stage and forcing myself to put down the scissors. To cut or not to cut, that is the question. Lucky for me; bobby pins, barrettes and headbands are making a comeback. When getting ready for work, I'm doing my best to avoid looking like this:

Modern Outhouse

My search for my ideal-at-the-moment dream home checks out the bathroom today. I like the idea of having a calm, hotel-like master bathroom and giving my friends something interesting and bold in the guest bathroom. House Beautiful has several beautiful images but it wasn't hard to narrow my selection.

master bathroom

I love the rich and relaxing look of this space. I could easily see myself reading the latest issue of Marie Claire while soaking in a mountain of bubbles. I'm also digging the abundance of tulips in the corner. The small mosaic glass tile on the floor and silver accents give me lots of great ideas for how I would want the rest of this room to look.

guest bathroom

Black, white and a special pop of color makes me smile. The stripes are bold but not overdone.

5 O'Clock Somewhere

I'm not much of a coffee person unless it is crazy cold outside. Even then, I prefer sugar free iced vanilla coffee! I really like cold things. Maybe because I'm a gulper and gulping hot things isn't an easy task. Hubby isn't a fan of sharing a drink with me when we're on the road because he is a sipper and I am a gulper.

Anyway, my newest crave is found in a ginormous can; Monster's lo-carb energy drink. What helps you make through the day????

Freebie #2

Go check out House and Harmony! She just introduced her first giveaway and it is fabulous. Much like herself! Aren't the embossed bees on this glassware absolutely adorable? Click here to check it out.

Freebie

My Sweet Savannah adds sincere personality to her home with creativity and she's become a blog favorite of mine. (I know, I know...I have many.) This week she is hosting a giveaway! Click here to join in on the fun. This piece is huge. Check out those dimensions!

Nothing Room

I'm working on transforming our nothing room into a study. The nothing room is located to the right of the breakfast nook through french doors. In the nothing room there is a large glass door that leads to the back patio. We have no plans to sell our house anytime soon but when we do, I think a "Study" will attract more interest than a nothing room. Having a study sounds more grown up too!

Inspiration: Lee's Infantry Pin

I'm not absolutely sold on any of these items. However, taking a gander at the mood board you can definitely tell what direction I'm taking with the room. Thoughts or suggestions?!?!

Showering Together

Kimberly asked that I put together a little ditty for an easy print off on her school’s printer. Kimberly and another teacher have reason to celebrate and the other teachers are hosting a party for them both. I sent it to her in a Word document so she could manipulate the file to her liking. Here's the flyer:

Bridal cartoon reads: "I'm sorry, ma'am, but we don't do bridal showers."

Elbow Room

In case you were looking for it, there wasn’t a "Drill Weekend" post in March and we didn’t attend the Military Ball. A loss to an immediate family member is bizarre. It’s an overwhelming shock and then remains surreal. Still coping with this tremendous loss, we decided to focus on healing and spending more time together. Surprising myself, the lieutenant was quick to release Lee for the weekend. Plenty of Mexican food, belly laughs with friends, prayer and family hugs can be the ultimate remedy. The daily curve balls life throws you on top of everything else you might be going through are enough to wear a person thin. We're still healing but it's always good to know that you can stick your elbows out and yelp for some breathing room when you need it.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8: To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to rend, and a time to sew; A time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; A time of war and a time of peace.

Prize Egg

Easter was spent with Lee's family. In between baking, coloring eggs and rearranging Nana's furniture, I found myself in my mother-in-law's basement! Jan passed her beautiful punch bowl and glass wear onto me and let me scour her hidden treasures that Lee calls, "junk".

I found the most adorable little drums and a vintage camera that I couldn't pass up. I've already found the perfect place to display both of these items in our house and they are nesting there now. Included in the score, I got an old Barnum and Bailey vintage metal sign but I'll save that for another post. I brought home a couple of old windows...not sure what I'm going to do with those yet...I'm especially excited about finding an old wooden oar! Pottery Barn has a look-alike in this size selling for $99. Again, not sure what I'm going to do with it but I have one! The chairs I found are in need of some much needed TLC. I'll be painting them a bold color and completely redoing a weave rush seat. Pottery Barn has a brown look-alike on sale for $349. Any tips on redoing the weave seat? Thank goodness for Google...

Hippity Hoppity

Easter is on its way!

We do his and her Easter by rotating families every year. Although we're not consistent in our location, we do continue our traditions. New outfit for Easter morning, attend church together as a family, big ham lunch and finally a crazy egg hunt to find the Prize Egg! I have attached a few Easter-y touches around my kitchen and my favorite Easter funnies to get you through the weekend. Have a good one!

Happy Easter!

Moody Master

Our dear friends, Kimberly and Rusty are getting married soon. She asked for my assistance in the decorating of their newly built home. At the moment, we are working on her master bedroom. Rusty and Kimberly are learning to combine their personal styles and compromising is still an adjustment. My hubby Lee was picky at first too but after I went ahead and painted a room pink; he had no choice but to give up. Ha! You have to wait for a pink room picture when our House Beautiful tour is complete. Challenges:

1. Stay within budget due to the upcoming wedding, etc.
2. Don’t paint the walls. (They are a nice creamy white/tan color)
3. Combine Rusty’s very traditional style with Kimberly’s Shabby Chic/French Cottage Style.
4. Try to use accessories that can be added to their registry.

See below for the Mood Board Kimberly absolutely loves.

Inspiration Room (Image: House Beautiful)

1. Vintage Clock by Pottery Barn
2. Havana Stripe-Mocha Duvet by Target (Reversible)
3. Glass Table by Target
4. Shabby Chic White Sheets by Target
5. Vase by Target
6. Floral by Pier 1
7. Burlap Pillow (Sew it!)
8. Wall Decal (Google it, you can find monograms anywhere!)
9. Ruffle Pillow ( I heart ruffles, sew it!)

*Beds are from JCPenneys by Chris Madden.

I also suggested she put an old window she has to use somehow in this room. Get a big leather studded chair and ottoman, shop http://www.overstock.com/ for a reasonably priced chandelier and maybe find an old trunk or upholster a bench to put at the end of her bed. Ideas are endless.