Wednesday Loves: #2

Here is the second installment of Wednesday Loves. I just love jute rugs like this one found here.

Isn't this porch completely gorgeous? I googled "porches with ferns" because I just love that look... and I cam up with this photo, although it doesn't show the great look of ferns hanging from the side of the porch.

AJ and I got this book for Kim for her birthday... it has some amazing decorating ideas.

I was reading Traditional Home the other day and saw that they are launching a new online magazine along with Lonny Mag... it looks amazing... read this fun write up about it:

AJ and I just loved Mykonos, Greece when we went last summer... we would recommend it to anyone and we'd go back for the entire summer in an instant:

Does anyone else love J. Crew's "wear to work" collection? It's expensive but they wear so well, here is a gorgeous origami sheath dress.

I just love these ice-cream sandwiches... I'm letting myself have one a day to keep myself off other junk food. :) They are only 140 calories and taste like they are high-fat. :)

That's all for this week! Have a good evening-

happy half-birthday, baby!

I had some fun playing in Picnik, Google's photo editing software this morning. I took this last night while Drew and AJ were out playing on the back lawn.

Well, today is Drew's half birthday... and in another six months he'll be a year... how how how did time fly so fast? I remember pretty much every minute of the day he was born, the awful pain, pulling my first all-nighter, spending most of that all-nighter either in the bathtub or in bed with AJ attempting to watch Glee from 2:30 - 4:30am to get my mind off the contractions and then the unbelievable feeling of my water breaking... That was basically one of the funniest moments of my life waddling into the hospital absolutely enormous with child and then to make matters worse I had a huge towel stuffed into my soaking wet jeans (hence the waddling).

Kim came over yesterday and we gave him an ice-cream sandwich (Skinny Cows, they are the best)... I think he was in complete heaven. Don't worry, we didn't give him that much... I know we need to be sticking to fruits and veggies now. :)

This next photo is from our morning walk this morning... it shows his fun and Winston Churchill face (as my mom calls it). He woke up at 6am so I figured we'd go for a couple mile walk so AJ could sleep or go for a run if he wanted. Drew pretty much babbled the entire way... You can't tell me he isn't one of the cutest babies you've ever seen. :)

As a nod to that day that completely changed our lives (and slowed us down, as AJ likes to say :))... Drew's first photo, super blurry because so much was happening:

It has been a hard six months... not because he's been a bad baby (quite the contrary) but because there has been so much for AJ and me to learn... particularly the virtues of patience and slowing down. I've loved these past few weeks since leaving work, it's amazing how much more I love being a mom now that I'm not stressed out trying to work from home.

Drew, I've loved discovering who you are and seeing your curious and attentive personality come out more every day... I'm shocked by how much you've changed in these six months. You are sitting in your "car" now talking and drooling (constantly). You now hold your own bottle (sometimes) and you can sleep through the night (although, sometimes I think you wake up just because you want to play with us). You are making my arm muscles stronger by the day because you are basically a giant baby... you are wearing some 12 month clothes now... yikes. Your Daddy and I love love love to hear you laugh and we probably tickle you too much just because of that. We love your funny faces when feeding you applesauce and love it when you touch our faces and squeeze our noses. I love it that dogs don't bother you when they lick you and that you will eat anything in front of you... including the Father's Day card I had you hand to Daddy. We love you, Drew! xoxo

ebony (and I don't mean the mag)

We decided to go a little dramatic for the floors of the Flip. This photo, from this fun blog I follow, 7th House on the Left, perfectly shows the three options AJ and I choose between for floors. We did Jacobean in the Lynn Flip and Dark Walnut in our own home and have decided on Ebony in the current Flip to contrast with the crisp white trim and the varying shades of gray on the walls, dark, I know, but we'll give it a whirl.

Today AJ sanded all the floors in the Flip with a large sander we rented from a place in Gloucester. Drew fell asleep on our way to visit AJ and bring him the shop vac so I was able to do a little bit of the sanding around the edge of the room until he woke up. Here is what the living room looked like post-AJ's amazing sanding abilities. Notice the piece of tin we have up against the fireplace... that is what we are putting over that ugly metal piece (AJ likes the metal piece (very bachelor pad-y looking), I think it has negative charm and so I bought decorative tin after telling AJ I wouldn't buy this house if the fireplace looked like that... okay, I would, but I don't think a normal person would).

Here is the large and in charge office right off of the dining room. AJ had perfected the sanding technique at this point and was going over everything with the little sander I had used to do the edges of the living room and part of the dining room. Oddly it just had so much more "omph" than the larger sander.

Here is a photo of one coat of Ebony and zero coats of polyurethane (which we totally need to add to the glam factor). AJ was nervous that we chose a color without mass appeal but I think it'll look really sharp with the walls and the crisp white trim... There's no going around it, it's dark, but it's pretty classic, I think (I hope!). Look at the floors that were just sanded... we really love those light colors too, we think it adds a great bit of rustic-ness to the very classic moldings. Picture this room staged with white comfortable furniture and some brightly colored pillows. Cannot WAIT to get to the staging...I've got an open Word doc on my computer now of what I have planned to put into each room.

Have a great weekend... we are praying for sun here, the rain is getting old quick!

western party

My in-laws are throwing a Western themed rehearsal dinner for my brother in law, Matt, and soon to be sister in law, Alison, this July. I recently discovered Pinterest and am in love. (If you don't know what it is it allows you to "pin" any photo that you see and love on the web and you can organize them into catagories (this catagory is called "Delish Events").) Here are some photos of the Western ideas that I compiled:

Don't you love the mason jars with the bandana napkins and silverware? I'm in love with that cute presentation.



I love the idea of a fun banner hanging. The rehearsal will be at a gorgeous building on Colgate University's campus (AJ's alma mater).



You can find galvanized buckets that resemble this at Home Depot in the paint section... I suppose they look a little more like plain paint cans but it has almost the same type of feel as this cute bucket.



Love the idea of the chalk board menu and the quaint welcome sign.



What about this for an invite? Just picture no child on the front of the invite, replace his photo with Matt and Alison's.



The banner that I love... if Toy Story characters were taken off of it.



Weren't those cute ideas?

wednesday loves: #1

I'm going to try to post things that I've found and loved on Wednesdays... so here's to a new column: Wednesday Loves.

Isn't this giant letter great? It was addressed to the home-owners great-grandmother from his uncle in 1917.



I'm in love with the way they did this fireplace... I've been thinking about how I want to handle the fireplace in the Flip and this simple white panel is a great idea, although we decided on the tin we used for our backsplash so that it ties in with the tin ceilings.





Check out this porch makeover from The Lettered Cottage. There are so many great photos in addition to this one! I love how creative and inexpensive everything was!



Love love love this living room. Talk about happy and relaxed. And wouldn't it be so easy to recreate something like that inexpensively? I've seen pieces like that at IKEA and on the side of the road. Taken from here.



And lastly, my grandfather offered us the claw foot tub that was at our cottage in Maine before it was torn down and rebuilt (basically it had moss gardens growing in the windows and that was only the beginning of the problems). Don't photos like these make you dream about taking a relaxing bath in the tub with a magazine and a cold drink (my beverage of choice would be Newman's Own Organic Lemonade mixed with tonic water... divine)?


http://www.homespunforte.com/


http://www.decorsuite.com/


http://www.gardenhottub.org/

That's all for now... I've got to jump in the shower quickly before Drew wakes up (he's snoring like a little puppy now)... he fell asleep while I was out for a run / walk so I've got to move it and groove it. Ciao!

a martha dinner

Besides being able to stay home with Drew one of the advantages to not working is that I have a little more time to do other things that I like but really didn't have the time to focus on before... like stalking the royals and finding out what Kate Middleton is wearing cooking. If you know me at all you know I rip apart every magazine and catalog I can get my hands on so that I can keep all the good ideas. It's sort of bizarre but I can remember the tiniest details of photos and recall an idea when I'm looking for a recipe or decorating idea... it's too bad that part of my memory didn't work that way on the GMAT. :) Anyways, I found this amazing peach salad recipe in Martha's newest mag (yes, Martha Stewart and I are on a first name basis). It was so easy (my kind of recipe)... it just had six chopped up peaches, half a red onion, some torn basil, juice of one lemon and some salt and pepper.

And then I was having a hankering (isn't that word so old fashioned?) for a Caprice Salad... it didn't disappoint.

I found this citrus marinade at Market Basket that I mixed with some olive oil. The chicken sat in it for about half and hour and I cooked it on the stove top in olive oil. The whole meal was delicious and it was really easy to make it... particularly because AJ took Drew running while I cooked so I didn't have to take breaks every ten seconds to tickle him or sing him songs (that basically characterizes how we keep him happy during the witching hour the dinner hour).

There are the two running buddies posing with my salad... I think they'd just done seven or eight miles... it's nothing for AJ but every time he says that I am impressed (namely because my runs are two or three miles... four on a good day!)

Here's the happy camper posing for AJ and me!

kitchen designs

We are brainstorming about the next house we flip. We have problems, I know. We aren't even done with this one. Now that I've finished work I'm going to spend some time cranking out painting at the flip to help AJ out (have I mentioned that my mom is fabulous and has watched Drew every Thursday and Friday since I went back to work? Well, she watched him this Thursday for a bit so I could head up to Gloucester and paint like a crazy woman.)

Anyways. The next house... we want to try something different. AJ basically has let me have my way in our house, the house we are flipping and the past flip and let us install a white kitchen (thanks, hubs, I know it's not completely manly. :)) But, I figure we can stretch our design repertoire and I can stop being so selfish and let AJ choose the kitchen this next time... we had our eye on a house that would be VERY easy to fix up since it's considerably newer than the other ones we've worked on but it just went to a foreclosure while we were waiting to hear from the bank about our offer (it was in the short sale stage which honestly is drama and takes forever). I've been googling darker kitchens... but of course I had to throw in one photo of a gorgeous white one...it makes me want a stainless steel apron / farmer's sink (not totally sure what to call it), a yellow chair and a fabulous fern.

Our goal would be to have darker cabinets but still keep the kitchen feeling bright. I know that seems like an oxymoron but I think these photos show it done right:

(taken from here)

The photo above was taken from here... I'm  not in love with the modern-ness of it but I do think a lighter counter top would brighten up the kitchen.

I'm in love with these gray-ish black ones... mmm maybe our next house. And of course I'm loving it with the marble counter tops... I'm such a sucker for marble even though you have to be oodles more careful with it than you do with granite. (Photo was taken from here.)



I think the secret to a brighter kitchen, like the one above with dark cabinets, is to have plenty of glass upper cabinets. The photo taken from here and it didn't enlarge well. :(



This photo above is an IKEA kitchen. Again, I love the glass cabinets and the lighter counter tops, I'm not sure I love the stark white but you get the idea that if everything else besides the cabinets are light in a kitchen it doesn't get the vibe of a man cave.

And, drumroll please, the last photo... I just love the wall of glass cabinets at the end of the room. I think having the same cabinets in the slightly separated dining room pulls everything together so well.



The reason I like a lot of these photos are because the dark kitchens don't take themselves too seriously... they aren't those drab ultra traditional dark kitchens covered in 1980s floral fabrics (do you know what I'm talking about?). Have you seen a photo of a kitchen with dark cabinets that still appears bright and friendly? Send it to me jen.migonis@gmail.com

fabulous first birthday

If any of you are new moms you know how great it is to have another friend in your same boat... or even better... a few months ahead so in your clueless-ness you can ask them every question imaginable. Heather Varela is that type of friend... and not only that, but she's got such a fun, creative streak as exhibited by her son Mason's first birthday on Saturday. Heather just started her own blog (she's only on her third post but I'm sure she'll have some additional fabulousness for us shortly, hint, hint, Heather. :)) and I shamelessly ripped off her photos because Drew was a complete lunatic during Mason's party (Heather mentioned Mason got a little weird around crowds at this age) and my photos are dark and gross. In other news, here is the happy, and adorable family:

The incredibly cute blue and green sign Heather designed to go along with the party's color scheme:

More fun colors along her color scheme and pool party theme:

Seriously, how cute are these centerpieces? It's dyed water with goggles!

The lemonade and iced tea station with Mason jars (how appropriate for Mason's first birthday). Can you see the straws? Heather ordered them online, blue and white stripped... I loved her little details.

Don't you just love the labels on the water? "Don't drink the pool water!" Soooo cute.

The Mason jars with the adorable straws.

I was in love with these ice-cream cone cupcakes. She had funfetti cake inside and baked them right in the cones!

The birthday boy, and Drew's (older) best friend. They just don't know it yet. :)

Didn't that look like the most adorable first birthday? Thanks for sharing the photos with us, Heather!