The Painted House

All AJ was waiting for was a special ladder to finish painting the side of the house... it had been a little under two years since he and his friend Brian painted it initially but these awkward eves never got done because the kind of ladder he needed was one that clipped on to the top of the house. Here are some before photos:

Notice the tiny unpainted part in the top left of this photo taken Memorial Day weekend:

Here is the after, painted in Martha Stewart's Cumulus Cloud:

Isn't it always nice to see the before and after side by side?

Any painting projects for you lately?

Iris Walkway

Last time anyone heard anything about our walkway it looked like this:

We had just laid stone dust and didn't do much else. But, when we made our new patio in the back we took the cement pavers (that look like bluestone) and laid them on the walkway. Over Memorial Day weekend we purchased the extra pavers we needed to fill up the space and now we are left with this... a much improved version:

We plan on planting a bush or something at the end but haven't decided what yet.

Hopefully this coming summer the rotted front porch will bid adieu.

A view from our front door:

Because the flowers were so gorgeous I couldn't resist snapping a few photos of them in their best season, AJ has snagged them from various places when people were dividing their gardens so we never paid a penny for those irises...

AJ and I are teaching him to sniff flowers. :)

Look at this precious little face!

Drew and I are headed out for a run in a bit and just got back from a walk to the center... he loves to watch the cars and blow kisses or wave to everyone. :)

Goodbye Gangrene Rug

After about two and a half years of living here I've had it with this teal rug. Remember that line from The Wedding Planner when Jennifer Lopez said "teal is the color of gangrene"? Yeah, I thought of that line pretty much every time I went into this room... here is the room on the day we moved in:

And how it looked on Friday:

One of my goals for this past weekend was to take out the carpet and paint the floor around it.

When we moved into the house the the entire room's floor was this red-ish / purple-ish color. Here it is with the rug removed and just the perimeter painted.

Here we go... our new and improved guest room! See that rug? It was a $20 Craigslist score from the same place I got our living room rug.

I was running out of paint so I didn't paint under the bed, but I don't care too much about it because I want to either make or buy a bedskirt and because we plan on installing hardwood floors throughout the upstairs.

Here is a little bit of a zoom in on the rug. It is the West Elm Jute Boucle rug in Flax.

This room needs tons of extra work... like I said, we are putting in hardwood floors and we need to replace the windows and the drywall. I'm always tweaking it and have a couple of other ideas you'll probably see soon for artwork and a headboard.

Oh, and the teal rug, it's now in the basement making the floor look a smidge less scary. :)

I've got a couple of photos from our Memorial Day weekend for you, the first of Drew and Meredith holding hands at the hospital on Sunday as we were coming back from the outdoor patio.

We were quizzing Drew on body parts... I think this was either his "I'm not sure" face or touching his tongue. :)

He definitely knows where his ear is!

If you didn't get a chance to pop over here yesterday then make sure you check out this fun birthday party we went to!

Lastly, THE WINNER FOR THE GIVEAWAY IS STEPH JACOBSON. Steph, I will contact you shortly with info! Congrats!

Birdies Everywhere

I like a good white ceramic bird and a party theme well carried out. Today's post involves birds (albeit, not white ceramic ones) and a theme very well implemented. AJ, Drew and I went to a 2nd birthday party this weekend for a friend's daughter... it was basically a sweltering day but they still managed to have fabulous food that refreshed and didn't come out melting right off the table.

This is the invite that arrived at our house a couple of weeks ago (of course, when we got it none of the info was blurred...privacy here, people... I'm like the Witness Protection program. :):

After seeing the invite I knew Lanna (our friend) would carry out the theme of birds every way she could. As soon as we got to the party I pulled out my Canon Rebel and started snapping photos like a crazy family member. Only, I wasn't family and had just met adorable Layla that day.

Look that these flower arrangements that were on every table:

 Now take a closer look at the birds because Lanna made them out of felt. Cute, right?

These are my two favorite birds topping the tiered dessert stand.

This photo was taken before all the desserts were set out but I wanted to snag a picture of her cute Happy Birthday banner for Layla.

Let me show you some pics of the food... it was adorable:

Lanna used a recipe off of Martha Stewart to come up with this uber cute cupcakes:

Wouldn't these little bird cookies be perfect for an Easter celebration? They gave us three to take home in our goodie bag... needless to say, three are now in our bellies.

Don't even get me started on these cake pops. If it wasn't inappropriate I would have sat at the dessert table and stuffed every single one of them in my mouth. I am going to make these for every event from now until I die.

Aren't the colors of this dessert stand just fabulous? Lanna gave each person a cupcake with a bird topper to take home!

Here is the birthday girl, Layla!

Of course Lanna bought her a bird dress to match the theme. Thank you Mini Boden.

Now, of course, all my family members are probably dying for some Drew photos because I've barely posted them lately. Drew LOVED corn hole. I'm pretty sure I'll be making beanbags in the near future and figuring out somewhere for him to throw them... hopefully not at me. :)

Drew is a child after my own heart. He loved the cake pops. I love AJ's face here. :)

The favors weren't just the fabulous sweets... Drew also took away a truck. Which he held the entire way home and then while visiting Meredith at the hospital. Look at his curls!!!

Did you have a great Memorial Weekend?

Any fun parties?

Rosemary Fritata

It all started with a boy and his chickens.

A boy with a diaper that was falling off.

(He'd been playing in a pool of water. :))

Actually this recipe came about because we get six eggs a day from our chickens and need to figure out some useful uses for them. Enter a conglomeration of ideas from various fritatas and here is a Spinach and Rosemary Fritata.

What you'll need:

1 large potato

1/2 cup of swiss cheese

1 small onion

1.5 cups of baby spinach

8 eggs

1/2 cup of milk

Minced garlic, salt, pepper and rosemary to taste

Dice your onions and slice your potatoes super thin.

I used the peeler to slice mine thin because my talent doesn't lie in using a knife to do that.

Pop some olive oil and minced garlic in a frying pan over medium / low heat.

After it heats up put the potatoes in to soften. Once they are almost done put the onions and spinach in.

It'll come out looking like this. Put it in a cake or pie plate and sprinkle some fresh rosemary over it.

Mix your milk and eight eggs into submission (anyone notice my Julie and Julia reference?) and pour over and around the potato mixture.

I let it cook for 20 minutes in a 400 degree oven and then pulled it out to put the cheese on top and then let it cook for 10 more minutes.

There you have it! A special breakfast... boy do I wish I ate like this every day... usually I just have two eggs or a bowl of cereal. :)

Tell me, what are your plans for Memorial Day?

Any of you traveling in the awful traffic?