pink retreat

Over Presidents' weekend we did two room makeovers. Blake took an extra day off and we decided to update both Lucy's room and ours. Our room is almost done but I need to do some more accessorizing and find something to put on our super bare walls before I show the finished room. Lucy's room is complete now and I'm in love! The first thing I do when she wakes up is open her blinds (that's the first thing I do in EVERY room - closed blinds in homes is probably my biggest pet peeve), make the bed and check on the mini inside rose bush she and I found at home depot. I'm sure I enjoy it more than she does!

I'm pretty sure it was my 8th birthday (the year before my sister was born) that I had a full room makeover. The colors were peach and cream. I had the most beautiful wooden cream-colored canopy bed, matching dresser, desk and hutch. My bedding was peach and I had a peach-colored bedside lamp. It was my most memorable birthday. I remember just sitting on my bed admiring all the special little touches, artwork from Appleyard Art, peach silky ribbons hanging from the canopy posts - ahh I can see it all now! I remember I got a journal that year also and instead of writing some scandalous 8 year old secrets I made a list (my all time favorite past time) of my favorite items in my room. How weird-o is that?!

Anyway...bedrooms, special places to retreat are really important to me and so I wanted Lucy's room to create that same feel. At almost four years old I think she'd rather sleep in our bed with us and the dogs but I'm sure she'll appreciate it soon. She sure does love to show it off and give a detailed tour so I'll share it on the blog...

(oh and I don't have an amazing camera like everyone else does nor do I have any interest in getting one - that being said these pictures REALLY don't do the room justice!)

Blah - this is the before. This picture does show Lucy's new bed. Once we moved out the toddler bed and cancelled the RCWilley order for a really boring wooden slat headboard - this arrived. It's no carriage bed - but Lucy approves. So notice all the dark wood furniture? When I was pregnant Blake and I found a perfect nursery set at Babinskis and I justified the cost by saying Lucy would use the furniture for at least 8 or 9 years. Well, now all of that pretty dark wood furniture is stored in a spare room downstairs. Pink and cream (much like peach and cream) is kind of a necessity for a four year old princess.

This pink on the walls is a super cozy pink - I'm still in search for the right bedskirt.

The mirror on the wall used to hang on my wall in high school but was a really stark white so I spray painted it cream to add to the soft look of the room. This dresser was a great find from KSL. I went from a dresser and changing table to this one large dresser and finally packing away two drawers of baby blankets. I changed the top knobs out on the dresser. Originally I thought I'd paint it but the gold goes perfect in her room.

Did you know you can paint wood laminate? I was looking all over for the perfect sized book case and everything was too pricey or too tall. Then I realized this piece in Blake's office was the size I wanted. I was leery about painting on something fake - I though it would just wipe off. But spending some time online there's plenty of tips on how to paint cheapo wood laminate. So for the price of a couple cans of spray paint I created the perfect piece!

Like me, Lucy loves accessorizing and finding cute little decorative pieces. We've spent many mornings hunting for goodies.

Most of Lucy's toys are in her playroom but she keeps some of her treasures in the drawers of her vanity. I love to see how similar the two of us are. The way she arranges and organizes all of her stuff. It's been so fun to shop and decorate her room when she's so into it.

So that's her cozy little retreat! I've had so much fun working on it but I couldn't do any of it if it wasn't for Blake. He spent his whole weekend painting while I wandered the house and pretended to help. I'm great to come up with an idea, gather supplies, envision results and shop for the "fun" stuff. But when it comes to work, eh, I seem to disappear. Blake would be painting a full room by himself then walk down the hall to find me flipping through decorating magazines under a blanket on the couch.

I think he prefers to work alone though - he's kind of a perfectionist when it comes to painting. I tend to rush through things because I'm too impatient. That's why the book case I painted had a few too many drips - I was painting in 30 degree weather. But what better way to get through the dreary months that a room makeover...ours will be up next!

just need pumpkins

...and my fall decor is complete!

I started in August but just finished up my fall nesting this week.

I think most everyone is ready for the crispness of fall, pumpkin lattes

and cozy throws on the bed.

Blake and I still aren't quite ready to give up our time in the yard so

we dressed up some pots with fall color and added some glow-y candles

to stretch out our evenings outside.

My bench!

I've been so excited to decorate this corner of my kitchen for fall. My amazingly talented brother in law Brinton custom built this banquette for us. He did such

a great job and this custom piece is already becoming a popular spot. He included

storage below for baskets to hold Lucy's arts & crafts supplies, dining room linens and cookbooks. It's comfortable, well made and now I feel like my kitchen area is complete.

Now I'm just on the hunt for white, orange, green pumpkins to finish it all up!

my favorite time of the year!

halloween hoarder

Yama hama.

That pretty much sums it up.

I've laughed, been horrified, felt sad for many people on that hoarders show but this weekend I felt like one of them.

I've blabbed on and on about my love affair with all things orange, fall, halloweeny, etc for years. I know I've accumulated quite a collection of "fall bins" but this weekend was kind of a sad wake up call. The other day I found some fab treasures at Home Goods (who knew! what off-beat fun halloween things they have) and then picked up a few new must-haves at Taipan. Well on Saturday I thought it would be good to take an inventory of what I have because I don't have 5,000 sq ft to play around with or anything - this decor needs a plan (two months in advance, i know, i know).

Well, one by one Blake brings out bins from the garage. Giant bins. Then I remember some big bags I had stashed away inside. It all came out. And I am certifiably a halloween hoarder.

This might be half of it. It was funny for a minute so I thought I 'd take a picture but then it became a little...awkward.

Blake was mowing the lawn and I felt completely exposed...skulls, black and orange ribbon, pumpkin faces, spider soap dispensers. It had no end.

You know on hoarders when the people start making excuses like "well, what if I ever have a party (said by social misfit) and one of my guests has one arm and...they need this plate that holds a glass" or some bizarro remark that would never happen. Well, in my head I became that hoarder I've laughed at. "Well, I might have a costume ball and these little witch card holders would be great for prize certificates."

Yeah, hoarder.

I managed to unload a few things but really I just rearranged them in my totes because you never know what you'll need.

I'm not going to be too hard on myself though because I probably only have half a tote of Christmas and well, if I run out of room to decorate inside I have a full yard that I can branch out in.

I did however, empty my online shopping cart of pottery barn halloween goodies.

(except some more skull heads)

happy hoarding halloween!

Two weeks

Two week catch-up.

Although not a lot has happened the past two weeks we've done a few fun things that have added to a great summer. I don't want snow but I can say that I'm fine with summer winding down. For only having one child we've kept pretty busy running around this summer and I'm personally ready for a cozy, long fall.

One thing that this fall will probably be lacking is preschool. I've felt like a failure of a mom the past week after finding out Lucy likely won't move out of the realm of the preschool wait list. I guess this is one of many of my clueless mom moments that I missed the memo that you have to register for preschool like really far in advance. I thought calling in April might be early enough but I was sorely mistaken. And now I have a three year old begging to go to school and not much to offer her. I'll hold out hope until the end of the month and then I'll just resign myself that it wasn't meant to be (how's that to ease my guilt) and do a make-shift-home-pre-pre-school. I know my daughter is brilliant ( :) ) and doesn't need preschool to get an edge up on her class of 2025 mates but we really wanted preschool for the social aspect. Lucy's no social misfit but she just needs other kids to express her fun personality with. So if anyone is up for a play date this fall - just let me know - I'm compiling a list of activities.

I may not be able to get our girl into preschool but I can get her into a pretty fun concert! We went to the Sandy Amphitheatre to see ARRIVAL (ABBA tribute band). It's been said before, Lucy is obsessed with the movie and music from Mamma Mia! so we knew this was a must. She danced the night AWAY and was asleep fifteen seconds after her car seat was buckled.

dancing queen!

We had our favorite boy Crosby over for a couple of hours of coloring, snacks and sandbox time. We're so excited to meet his little brother coming in a couple of months!

At the end of the month we went to my company's summer party. I'm really lucky to work for such a great law firm and they know how to put on a great party. We had the entire zoo to ourselves in the evening when it was nice and cool and quiet! All of the animals came out after a cool rain and Lucy could run and see everything without creepy, bruiser kids and parents in her way. My sister was one of the party planners and she did amazing! One highlight being a front and center bird show.

My good friend Lacey and her darling daughter Kylee. Unlimited carousel and train rides!

Last week Lucy and I had a mommy/daughter date and saw Ramona and Beezus. It's a super cute movie and Lucy sat through the whole thing. We had a minor argument before the movie because I made her wear...pants! But as long as I let her take this unicorn purse and let her apply her own lipgloss she agreed to go to the movie with me.

The next day was a different story.

I didn't think this would happen so soon - I was hoping I'd have a few more years but on Saturday I was given the title

"the worst mommy EVER!"

I'll admit my transgressions:

shorts (not a beautiful, magical dress like she requested)

denim shorts (even worse)

t-shirt (a boy t-shirt according to Lucy although it was purchased in the toddler Gap girl category)

ponytail (I thought this would be a cute new look. Lucy said it made her hair look short like a boy. I guess she couldn't see the cute curly pony in back).

(that is her pouting at her bed after she gave me my title)

Whatever.

Moving on. I started a chore chart for Lucy a couple of weeks ago. I thought it would a be a great way for her to start to help out and keep control of her crazy messy room. I explained if she did all of her chores we could pick out a princess prize. So far she's only committed to brushing her teeth.

But when Blake comes home she's more than willing to help out.

In the end Lucy knows I'm the queen of the pushover moms (which I'm working on) and if I somehow stand my ground there's always Gammy (who we met at Toys R Us today because we just had to check out the Princess buy one get one 1/2 off sale!)

Lucy really is such a good girl. If our biggest issue is that she wants to dress like a girly princess we're not doing too bad. She's done so well with her potty-training this summer. She's 100% underwear except for night in pull-ups. She's such a giggler lately and is following my footsteps of an exaggerator and story teller. Her vocabulary and conversations are so funny. Today she said "gosh, just use your imagination mommy" uhh, well I'm driving...

She's our favorite thing in the world. And even though we might not be in school this year - lucky (for both of us!) dance starts in a month!

spray paint

This beauty was hanging out in my grandma's back yard and when she offered it to me I didn't think much of it. But after a scrub down, primer and HOT pink it's a fun addition to our outdoor play area.

Lucy painted the little birdhouse hanging from the planter. There are so many cute crafts in the dollar section at Michael's. They've saved us on some of these long summer days.

My mom and I stopped at a yard sale near my grandma's one morning and debated about this planter. We knew it had possibilities but we were a bit bugged the seller turned down our $3 offer for the $5 planter. I knew I'd regret it later and so we picked it up.

Amazing what a punch of color can do. This whole thing ended up costing about $8. after paint.

So, lessons learned:

Rose Park has a lot of cool metal planters lurking in backyards

If you see something cool don't walk away on a couple bucks difference - I would've been kicking myself if I walked away over $2

Don't wear shoes you care about when spray painting - mine now have a pink & green airbrush look

easy laugh

Blake claims that I laugh at anything and everything. Whenever I'm having a bad day or feeling blah I go to someecards and usually laugh until I cry. Blake doesn't think any of the cards are funny - he doesn't even read the ones I email him. Maybe he's just jealous because Blake's really funny too and he can say the dumbest thing and I can't breathe from hyena-laughter.

I've come across something that I'm sure no one else will think is nearly as funny but again for me - tears! Maybe it's because we're somewhat Pottery Barn obsessed. I gaze through the catalogs and want to recreate all their little vignettes. But after this mockery some of those dinner setting are a bit ridiculous. http://catalogliving.tumblr.com

I'm an easy laugh but there could be worse things.

p.s. it's been really hard for me to not laugh at Lucy's new phrase of the week. She's been amused with the words "bum" and "butt" lately but the other day when she was jumping on my bed and said "butt face" it took all I had to not get hysterical. I did let out small laugh and that was just enough to have her say it...a lot.

summer so far

The long 4th of July weekend has come and gone and

it was such a fun one.

Perfect weather!

On Friday night Caitlin & Brinton took Lucy to a carnival

while Blake and I enjoyed a dinner up Emigration canyon at Ruth's.

Lucy had a blast (as always) and it was a great way to kick of the weekend.

On Saturday we prepped for a little bbq in our backyard. I put up a

bunch of cute decorations and we had lots of laughs -

as for pictures these two were all that happened.

Looks like a real happening party, huh?

I promise people came and I promise there was more decor than

the same exact fans in the front and back (lame).

There are no pictures but believe you me -

Blake was truly master of ceremonies of this event. He worked non stop

all day Friday (he had off) and Saturday. Blake wanted a new menu

so all on his own he researched recipes, made an extensive shopping list,

did all of the shopping, unloaded and spread a huge delivery of topsoil,

planted new perennials in the front yard, mowed, trimmed, did ALL the yard work,

helped me decorate, prepped and cooked the ENTIRE meal, cleaned-up and put on

a great firework show while we all lounged on the lawn and ate treats.

He was AMAZING!!!! Everything was perfect and delicious and I really

should be embarrassed that he did all of that and I watched.

I love him for hundreds of reasons but also for making our holidays memorable.

The rest of the weekend was spent going for a drive, working on a few more

yard projects and Monday we had a bbq at my aunt Beth's house (again no pictures).

If someone flew overhead and looked down in her backyard they would have

seen quite the scene of 20+ people playing tug of war...

yes tug of war. This tradition is hysterically fun and this year was no different.

We tried as many varieties (girls vs boys, over 40 vs under, etc.) as we could

think of and the neck ache I woke up with proves that we gave it all our all...

in tug of war.

Since I just have a handful of pictures of this weekend I'll add a few more

of what else we've been up to. We saw Toy Story 3 - Lucy's second movie in the theater.

She was great and can polish off a lot of buttered popcorn.

The movie was very cute and I cried a bit.

Lucy has allowed some room for the Toy Story characters but

no one can touch the princesses.

We went to the Salt Lake Arts festival. It was super crowded

but still a fun evening. Caitlin & Brinton volunteered so Lucy

got her face painted by Brinton. We ate, looked at booths and then watched

Lucy entertain many people by dancing to a jazz band.

If we were smart we'd put out a bucket for tips.

Other than that we've done swim lessons, picnics, saw Eclipse, backyard

baby pool and plenty of snow cones.

And once Lucy's tucked in this is our latest obsession!

Mad Men

This series had been recommended so we finally netflixed all

three seasons and I can't stop thinking about it.

The new season (4th) starts the end of this month and we're all caught

up and counting down.

Don Draper - why must you be so complicated?

Summer tv leaves a lot to be desired so do yourself a favor and

get this in your queue - NOW!!

happy summer!

potpourri

So not much has happened around here lately to warrant

a full blog post for one topic so I thought I'd post a potpourri or mixed bag

of some

of the little things...

.....

Lucy has mastered the art of a temper tantrum!

I knew she could do it if she put her mind

to it. And boy did she ever last week

at the mall. This wasn't a freak-out, this was an insane-o-

time to call super nanny - gargantuan temper tantrum.

So if you saw us walking down the

middle of fashion place with me getting slapped in the

face with both of Lucy's tiny hands

and blood-curdling screams...

thank you for turning away and not saying hi.

.....

Blake and I saw Depeche Mode on Tuesday -

it was a good concert.

My only gripe is people who "film" the

entire concert with their iphones.

I mean I understand a few pictures and recording

a song or two but are you really going to go home and watch

the whole concert again - just enjoy it while you're there.

Blake's gripe - texting - but that annoys him all the time.

.....

Last weekend my parents, sister and brother-in-law

took Lucy to the zoo and Blake and I finally saw a movie

together. We saw (500) Days of Summer and it's

very cute - but not as good as Julie & Julia which I saw

the week before and love, love, loved!

.....

Speaking of movies, if you haven't seen the trailer yet

for The Lovely Bones...watch it HERE.

And if you haven't read the book -

do it.

.....

I am BEYOND excited because yesterday

I registered Lucy for dance class! Yes, our

tiny little girl will be starting dance in two weeks

and it's all I can think about.

Now the hard part is finding tap and ballet

shoes to fit her tiny piggies.

But rest assured, there will be plenty

more to come (with pictures) about this new endeavor!

.....

I saw two (and enjoyed one) pumpkin food items this week...

it's coming!

.....

Blake and I have a new obsession: In Treatment.

This series is from HBO and I caught part of Season 2 a few months

ago and got hooked immediately.

So we joined Netflix and now (most) every night

after Lucy has gone to bed we are up with

our bowls of 94% fat free popcorn chomping

away and being swept up into this show.

There is no other word for it but

amaZing!

.....

So a lot of little stuff, even more rambling and

proof that we're not the most

"happening" fam - but

i love us.

i love...

summer edition...

snow cones, shaved ice, slushees

(preferably any lime flavor)

Lucy asking to go to a 'dance party'

our new backyard and how it's shady, 

cozy, quiet and perfect for talks

when Lucy calls me Codi - it just sounds funny

eating outside

somewhat of a tan

beverages taking on a whole new importance

Lucy's love and appreciation of a pedicure

geraniums - this is my first year potting them and my mom and grandma are right -

 they really are the best

The Real Housewives of New Jersey - pure summer trash tv, but why

did it have to end so soon

our Dis trip is close enough to start really getting excited

Us Weekly in the mail - a little gift each week

Lucy going outside and saying "Nice day! Nice day mom!" you have to 

hear it to appreciate the cuteness

canyon drives

my dad on the 4th of july at 8pm okay 8:30

flip flop tan lines - on all of us

Blake's willingness to bbq - a lot

seeing my brother - home for a week from Alaska and then off to 

Africa

summer concerts - two this week: tonight Death Cab

and Sunday Wallflowers

hope you're enjoying yours!!

Procrastinator

We have two weeks left to 

pack up all of our house and we've

yet to find our new digs.

We have a garage full of boxes and we're trying

to weed out some stuff so I don't carry around

my 11th grade English papers for another 15 years.

So what do you do with a time crunch and 

stress stomach aches??

Figure out your scanner and reminisce through

old pictures of course!

I only talk to one person from this pictures still (other than

Blake) but I had to include it -

look how hard I'm rocking the pyramid hair?!

And Blake, puttin' on the ritz!

It's sad to think how excited he was about this outfit.

Back to packing!

(and I think we'll hang on to these)