Away...

I will be away from my computer for the next two days...sorry! I have an architecture convention all day...so sorry! Thanks for understanding :-)


Kristin

Summer Bridal Shower

In August, my mom and I hosted a bridal shower for one of my best friends from high school. Her wedding is in October and is going to be very sophisticated and charming, I cannot wait! We decided to go with something a little different from the wedding style...since it was the end of summer, we wanted to go with a playful theme. I don't have the best pictures, but hopefully you can get the idea...the bride loved it!

the bride with her mother-in-law and mom in front of all the tasty treats!

For food, we had cranberry orange muffins and mini chocolate chip banana bread muffins, we had kettle corn, colorful jelly bellies (that matched the decor of course), we had various fruit with some homemade fruit dip and we had raspberry lemonade ice cream pie topped with fresh raspberries and blueberries.

the drink station with some fun straws (and my sister)

For drinks, we had different flavored Italian sodas from Target (I believe the Market Pantry brand?) and then some flavored fountain sodas. And I bought colorful straws from a store online called Shop Sweet Lulu (that's also where I got the napkins, goody bags and some gift boxes).

enjoying some food and drinks 

I asked the bride for an engagement picture so I could set it out for the guests to oooh and aaah over how cute the couple is. Definitely was a hit. They are so photogenic :-)

a banner saying "love is sweet" 

I made a banner from some scrap fabric that said "Love is Sweet" and hung it on the mantle with some love birds (they're very tiny...it's like where's waldo, can you find them?).  I mimicked the banner on the invitations along with the love birds...I might share that another day...hmmmm...

the bride opening some gifts

Before opening the gifts, we had the bride answer some questions about her fiance...for each question she got wrong she had to put a piece of chewing gum in her mouth.  Don't worry, she only got 2 wrong.  Apparently we didn't ask hard enough questions.  And, if I remember correctly, the bride is laughing because I got her the same card as another one of our friends did...and this isn't the first time we've done that...and is was completely not on purpose.

nothing beats good friends getting back together (minus one...who is in new york...we miss you j.p.!!!)

Well there you have it! We had so such a blast and cannot wait for the happy couple to get hitched! 


Hope you all have a happy Wednesday!


Kristin

My on-going To Do List

So, in order to stay motivated, I am going to physically write down my to do list for projects in my house...and I am going to put a couple on that I have already completed just to make myself feel like I've actually accomplished something :-) 

The nice thing about having a 101 year old house is that there's always something that needs to be improved...the bad thing is that there's always something that needs to be improved.  But we do love this house. It has so much character and has been a huge learning experience for both of us (and by "us" I'm referring to myself and Trey). 

Behold, the "list" (and I apologize...my pictures aren't the greatest).

To Do:

1. Hang new pictures in living room (and figure out how to attach hooks in the back of the pictures)

2. Repaint and reupholster bench

3. Have Trey and Dad finish making trim around doors and windows in kitchen

4. Caulk and paint trim around doors and windows in kitchen (one down, five to go)

5. Figure out how to install backsplash in kitchen...and then do it 

6. Finish floor trim in kitchen

7. Paint doors to basement and mud room

8. Finish making curtains for main floor (two down, three to go)

9. Refinish front door...or paint it...I haven't decided yet

10. Refinish front railing

11. Reupholster wing back chair! (yeah, totally scared to do this one...never reupholstered something this difficult before)

12. Finish painting stairway and hallway (I have half of it done...but I'm not tall enough for the second half...)

13. Hang photo gallery in hallway upstairs 

14. Switch up artwork in bathroom

15. Build shelves for linen closet in back corner of bathroom

16. Paint guest bedroom (same color as hallway)

17. Put new light switch in guest bedroom

18. Install ceiling fan in master bedroom

19. Get new bedding and decor for guest bedroom

20. Clean out Trey's office (seriously...it is a pit!)

21. Heat the mud room so the pipes don't freeze again this winter!

...and someday, awhile down the road, we will actually finish our mud room...but that has a list longer then this one all to itself.  My crazy goal is to get all of these things done before next summer, so we'll see how I do. The wing back chair I've had for over a year. I'm hoping it won't take me another year to actually get it started. And can you tell we still have a bit to do in our kitchen...although it has come quite a long way compared to how we bought it.  Once I get good "progress/after" pictures, I will show you.

Well, there you have it.  Hopefully this will help keep me motivated to actually finish everything! Because the sooner I finish this stuff, the sooner I can actually get started on the mud room!

Have a blessed Tuesday!

Kristin

Inspiration

So I guess I will just start...


I think I'm gonna make Monday's "Inspiration days"...because Monday's are always hard days to be creative on, so I'm going to force myself!


Lately, I have been thinking about home office spaces a lot. My husband works from home and I would love to someday...so here are some inspiring home office pictures.

(found via here)

(found via here)

(found via here on pinterest)

I would absolutely love to have a blue winged-back chair like this at my desk!

(found via here)

(found via here)

(found via here)

(found via here)

(found via here)

(found via here)

(found via here)

And this last one is my favorite...

(found via here)

Have a beautiful Monday!!!

the beginning

So...let's see how this goes...my first post of my first blog. Hopefully I can make sense of it all...my goal for this blog is to be able to have some sort of record of this stage in my life. A record of my faith-walk, my marriage, my house renovations and design style...and maybe some little architectural advice...we'll see :-) Anywho, I will try to be consistent!

God Bless,
Kristin