blog vacation

Hi Friends!

I'm going to be taking a mini blog vacation for this week, I'm house and teen / tween sitting for the week so I've got my hands full driving between Nahant and Manchester (for appointments) and planning two events... a private movie screening on Thursday and then the Scot Trot 5K Trail Race on October 8 at Gordon College. Want to run it? Check out the info at www.gordon.edu/scottrot

Have an amazing week and I'm already brainstorming posts for next week-

Jen

wednesday loves #12

The first two items for Wednesday Loves this week have to do with my last post where I mentioned that our neighbor just gave us a bunch of birch logs. These two photos give some great inspiration for what to do with them...



I adore this next photo... particularly because we also have white stockings and oddles of candles... now to create this for our Christmas mantle.



Sticking with the cool weather / Christmas theme for a minute: doesn't this hot chocolate bar look divine? I'd gain 20 pounds and probably not regret one of them (until I had to go running the next morning for six hours).



Completely unrelated to the first three photos... I want to write our house number like this on our front door. When I first got this Blueprint magazine years ago (it's was a Martha Stewart mag) I ripped this right off the cover and saved it.



I found an easy DIY project on Pinterest to make a simple centerpiece for Drew's birthday. I'm collecting glass bottles and I'm going to spray paint them the colors of his party... although when we were at Home Depot yesterday they didn't exactly have the colors I wanted... plans may change.



Danielle pinned this to her Pinterest page and I'm in love with it. Normally I don't love bedrooms decorated for Christmas but her comment "Classy Christmas Bedroom LOVE LOVE LOVE" summed it up pretty well. :)



I had these noble ideas to make all my own baby food for Drew, well, the fact of the matter is, he just doesn't like it as much as he likes this Happy Tot brand I get at Target. It's all organic and has a great blend of fruits and veggies (or some just have fruit) in each one. I've sampled it so I would know what Drew is eating and let me tell you, the spinach, pea and apple one isn't that bad... :)



Whenever I go to Market Basket I become like a senior citizen (no offense, Gram, because I can't see you doing this) and I head straight to the day old bread shelf. I always thought that sounded sort of gross but it was made the day before (as the name appropriately indicates) and it tastes perfectly and it's half or more off! There is this one company that I'm in total love with now: Jessica's Brick Oven (http://www.jessicasbrickoven.com/) and she has the most amazing cinnamon french toast bread and asiago cheese bread... and it's all natural. None of the photos do it justice so I'm not even going to put one in but visit the website.

I better scoot because Drew has dropped Cherrios and english muffin bits all over the living room and it looks like I now live in a slum house. Ciao!

birch trees + cable knit sweater = fall photo shoot

Our neighbor, Kathy, just took down some birch trees in her yard and offered the logs to AJ and I... this makes me a happy girl... especially since I think birch tree branches are a gorgeous and affordable (especially when it's free) way to decorate for Christmas. And to make matters even better... AJ's co-worker Abby just gave us a bunch of her baby's outgrown clothes and she gave us an off white cable knit sweater from Baby Gap that I was in love with before Drew was born. So we did a photo shoot...

Birch Trees + Cable Knit Sweater = Fall Photo Shoot

fall has hit

Fall has hit... and the Migonis family is off and running with it. Okay, well, actually, we are drinking hot chocolate and snuggled under blankets (Restoration Hardware's luxury throw... heaven) and I've got Drew sleeping in polar fleece already. (We are doomed for the next six months...) But, on a positive note, Drew and I bought some mums and pumpkins the other day; the caramel apple candle is lit and I've eaten my first cider donut of the season.

Inspired by fall, Drew, AJ and I headed to Russell Orchards on Sunday. I wanted to snap some photos and let Drew go into the petting zoo. We must have been having a bad day because neither of those things worked out too well. My camera completely died (it would turn on but the screen would be only black or pink-purple, and since those aren't autumnal colors it wasn't working out for me) and Drew was so not into the animals, which is unlike him. So, try two: a Monday photo shoot while AJ was at work. While Drew napped that morning I grabbed some scrap wood and finger painted "Happy Fall" on it for the photos. Yes, I was that crazy person walking around an apple orchard with a board sticking out of a diaper bag that only made it into one decent photo.



nautical baby drew

I was cleaning out Drew's drawers the other day and came across this little outfit... it's one of my favorite pieces and it was a hand-me-down. Nordstrom Baby (no wonder I love it). Drew was going to fit into his little sailor outfit for about ten more seconds so I figured we better do a photo shoot quickly of him at Tuck's Point (where AJ and I had our rehearsal dinner). I've been thinking that I wanted to get some photos of him as he's gotten bigger to put in his room, but I really wanted them to go with his nautical theme, so here's our fall nautical photo shoot. Drew at eight and a half months old.

I let him gnaw on that piece of driftwood. I kept him from eating the rocks. :)

leaving my boys

Exactly a week ago at this time I was driving to Bristol, Rhode Island to be the wedding coordinator at an event that the bride and groomed had dubbed "My Big Fat Clambake Wedding". Before dropping Drew off I was sort of sick to my stomach all day about leaving him (and he was going to be with AJ for the night, for crying out loud). It was the longest I'd ever been without him, and AJ and I are hardly ever away from each other for the night. As soon as I said my goodbyes to Drew and started driving I knew I was doing the right thing... I needed and wanted to be "Professional Jen" for a weekend. I wanted to run around and meet the bride and groom's needs and be straight out for that entire Saturday. I wanted to to run the show at the rehearsal and I wanted to do last minute crafts with the bridesmaids Saturday morning. Theo, the bride, kept apologizing to me for how disorganized she was and how she was making me do too much... but let me tell you, it was a dream. I loved running around, I loved wearing my professional navy dress and pulling everything together, I was in heaven and I had missed that feeling...

But let me tell you, that Friday night (between the rehearsal and wedding) was lonely in the big bed by myself. I didn't have anyone to snuggle with and I didn't have a little guy to kiss incessantly before hunkering down for the night. I've been really wondering about my purpose and who I am now that I'm a stay at home mom with fewer event planning gigs and more time to just veg (if you can call it that) with the little guy. My days consist of sweeping up Cheerios, running errands, cleaning, feeding Drew, cooking dinner and doing laundry. I feel like a 1950s housewife. And as I was away from my guys this past weekend, I realized how my life doesn't have to be a diacotomy. I can be both an event planner and a stay at home mom / wife who is trying to rock that job. I've struggled with not bringing in a paycheck but tt's been funny, I've seen God provide financially more this month than I ever have... we've seen Him provide for us with just AJ having a full time job, with the rental income we have and with side jobs I pick up. I've been blown away by how completely confirmed I've felt about the decision to leave my job at Gordon. I missed Drew and AJ so much that day and a half I was away from them that it made me realize how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE being a stay at home mom... I love the jobs of a 1950s housewife BUT I also love being able to pick up side jobs so that while Drew is napping or at nights I can do some "professional" work. I guess I've figured out that my purpose doesn't have to be completely single-minded. It's okay if my purpose (right now) is to be the best mom and wife I can be while seeking out jobs to do on the side to help bring in income for the Migonis Family... I'm not a career woman anymore but I love being able to still use my gifts from my past full-time career.

There is a lot of rambling for you... I guess today was one of those moments I used the blog for more of a journal than anything else, so forgive me if it doesn't flow or make oodles of sense. BUT before you go, let me share with you some photos of the wedding. I'm not joking, it was like "My Big Fat Greek Wedding". When I walked up to the house they rented the first person I met was Theo's dad. He was holding a can of WD-40 and had just sprayed the hand of one of Theo's good friends because her hand hurt. Does anyone remember the scene where the father in "MBFGW" sprayed everyone with Windex????

Theo (short for Theodora) and her hubby Blake rented this enormous house right on the water in Bristol, RI. It was heavenly, except for the bizarre decorations consisting of Christmas ornaments, bunnies, cats and life size bronzed jungle animals.

Here is the house from the back. I'm on their back lawn which goes right out to the water. It was the most perfect day and if I wasn't getting paid hourly I would have laid down in the carpet like grass to tan and hoped someone didn't hit with with a bocce ball.

I made these photo displays and Theo hung their initials, which she had cut out of foam and covered in moss. The placecard table sat right in front of this gorgeous tree.

This is their back lawn. Now don't you wish your lawn and view looked like that? Mmm hmmm, I just about passed out, and then remembered that at my house our view is an old fence, our neighbors house and six rediculous chickens (not to rag on them too much, because they are giving us half a dozen eggs daily). Theo wanted lawn games set up over the lawn for people to play during the cocktail hour. She found these bamboo garden markers and I made the signs out of chalkboard paper.

I wish I remembered to get this next photo after all the chairs were returned from the cocktail tables but, oh well... the off white linens looked crisp with a chocolate satin runner and hydrangeas and candles running the length of the table. It was simple elegance at its best.

Theo had the great idea to do some garland made with babies breath around the grounds to dress up a simple stone wall. It looked so bridal... :)

One of my favorite parts of the evening was when I finally stopped running around and sat down next to Theo's Greek uncle (everyone on her side was Greek, and hysterical, I might add). He told me he didn't like lobster and snagged me two lobster tails. Yep, it pays to become friends with the Greek Uncle. :)

Wednesday Loves: Manchester Edition

This week I've decided to focus on all the things I love about Manchester... you know those things that if you live here you see every day and yet still adore it each time you walk by...

First off, The Stock Exchange. It's a wildly overpriced consignment store (like stuff I could find on the side of the road and redo) but I just love the elegance of the outside (I adore the awning and their door) and how they have window displays that change weekly.

This house is on one of my running routes; there is so much that I love about it... the navy of the door and the mailbox / house number, the way they used gold in a classy, not tacky, way and the clam shell walkway. Oh, and I am in love with the topiaries.

You may wonder why this next photo is of a broken down greenhouse... I don't love the decrepit look, although what you can't see in the photo is the For Sale sign... this is a huge piece of property within walking distance to the school. I would love to knock down the green house and put up four or five gorgeous single family houses... and do the inside and outside on each one completely different from each other. I would also put up a small greenhouse as a token to what the property formerly was and use the materials from the greenhouse that was knocked down. Now... I just need millions. :)

Here is the quaint Captain Dusty's... the price of an ice-cream is about the price of a half gallon at Market Basket but you'll still find the line out the door during the summer. This is the spot where AJ and I met for our blind date... and where he brought me back for an ice-cream five months later right before he proposed. I'm pretty sure I got Chocolate Raspberry both days (creature of habit).

This is right up the road from Captain Dusty's and on the way to the ocean. I never grow tired of watching the tides come in here... and wishing I owned the property to the left so that I could host weddings on their gorgeous lawn.

Here is Singing Beach, we spent many days here last summer and a lot fewer here this summer... something about having a baby makes it a little less appealing than it used to but I still love walking / running down here. Drew did his first swimming in the ocean here and I'm pretty sure ate his first fistful of sand here as well (how am I still surprised by how fast he grabs things and eats it?). On a different note, the spot AJ had set up for the proposal with roses was in the upper right hand corner of the photo... sort of where you can't see the sand anymore (and did I mention he had a photographer lurking around the beach capturing photos of us as we walked and of the actual proposal so we would be able to remember it forever?). He's a keeper. :)

For years I've wanted to buy this hideous house. Can you see the potential in it though? Picture it with ZERO pink and natural cedar shingles anywhere you see pink... then picture gorgeous huge white pillars instead of the ones with a stone facade on them. As for windows: let's do large and long ones on the top of the house with full size window boxes just spilling over with gorgeous flowers. Then for the bottom floor we'll do oversize windows and a french door for the front door. Did I mention it overlooks the harbor?

This is where AJ works teaching seventh grade history. The school was built three years ago with a real focus on "green" initiatives. The gardens you see on the left side of the photo are actually used in the meals that are prepared for lunch... I love that... and I'm pretty sure he loves the fact that there are no longer buckets in the hallways catching rainwater every time it pours like in the old building.

This is on the running loop I call "the private / no trespassing loop"... all the best houses and views seem to be from areas you are not supposed to be. The house on the top left was from an early Macaulay Culkin movie and the house on the top right (rumor has it) is the summer home for one of Apple's top executives... the views are SO much better in person.



Hope you enjoyed the Manchester version this week!

master ideas

AJ keeps reminding me how good it was that we ripped out the ceiling in the kitchen, it's let us do some rewiring in the master bedroom. I'm pretty sure he's just trying to make me feel better about our kitchen ceiling, but regardless, he's right... it gets us one step closer to moving into the master bedroom. I'm not sure if I've done a post about the master before... and maybe because when we moved in it was a disgusting yellow (as in vomit yellow); all the walls, all the trim and the floor was a lovely mix of yellow and green linoleum. We've got new drywall thanks to AJ's friend Rob and Kerry (my father-in-law and AJ's step dad).

My demolition loving husband ripped out the drop ceiling and vaulted it according to the lines that the attic followed. Our attic got considerably smaller when we decided to do this but it was the best decision ever:
a. it helps us not become pack rats or get submitted to the show Hoarders by having junk filling both our attic AND basement (mostly from free stuff we find on the side of the road with intentions of redo-ing)
b. it makes the room feel so much more light and airy than it did when it was yellow everywhere with dirty floors, walls and a ceiling.

TRUST ME, I know the room still looks like a construction zone, and none of the colors match, etc. April and Kerry stayed for the weekend and we needed to just make it functional... hopefully next time they come it will be more homey and it won't look like we need to be put on an HGTV show because we have zero style. Here is the view from the doorway. We took off the drywall we placed over the window for the winter (let's just say that the wind comes right through it) and plan to move the window higher and make it larger so that it'll go over the area where a bed headboard would be (I plan to make this but am not sure what I want to do yet, although I'm asking for a bed base from West Elm for the Dirty Thirty (November 27)).

Everything you see with just sub-flooring is where our little sitting area with go. Two years ago we picked up an electric fireplace at Home Depot on clearance, AJ painted it white and it'll go on the wall where the card table currently resides (it's currently in our bedroom now). Picture some chairs in front of it to cozy up and read... or just avoid doing the laundry that is lurking on our bed... :)

Can you get a feel for how this next picture connects to the first? Once the room is finished we'll have a queen bed in here, not these two twin beds, so it'll look a lot more space appropriate. And don't you LOVE that green chair??? Picture it not quite so green... maybe with a very light tan fabric on the front and some tan and white stripped fabric on the sides... gorgeous.

These next photos are of the vaulting work that AJ has been working on and it'll show you where the larger window above our bed will go. We AJ will frame in the boards that you see so it'll look more finished and substantial.

It's the same drill with these boards that you see as well. And no, our walls don't have chicken pox... all those dots are from spackling. :) We still need to throw some primer on those walls...

This last photo of the room is our the space we have designated for our bathroom. Picture small double sinks (the hubby's request), a toilet and a glass shower. You can't see it? I can't imagine why... :)

Thanks to my trusty friend, Pinterest, I've collected a bunch of photos to inspire the Master Bedroom project... maybe this'll help people understand what is going on in our crazy heads when the room looks out of control right now... I think it's such a difference to see the darkness of the photos above compared to the light airy photos below... try to capture our vision. :)

What do you think?