Guess What I am working on??

Yes it is true... we are FINALLY starting to finish up the backyard!!

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Mine will probably not be this elaborate... but anything is better than weeds, grapevine, and kudzu.

Somedays I have dreamed I would die. Death by overgrown in kudzu!

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Cant wait to get everything mulched and show off my massive clump of day lillies. 

finally after 3 years of living here I can share the yard behind the guesthouse.

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our beds will more than likely look like this, sans the fancy fence. but nonetheless weed free beds sound amazing right about now.

Dining Room Progress

Our poor dining room. 

It has seen quite too many transformations in our lives in this house.

Most recently it looked like this.

What has changed??

1. my puppy has been hiding under the parsons chairs and chewing up anything she can get to.

like at least 100.00 worth of stuff a week. this has to stop!!

first thing first, put the chairs up!! and actually BUY some chairs for the room.

2. Clean and put away my beloved striped rug. (the puppies were tracking in mud on a white non-scotchgarded rug) and find a rug alternative.

3. Finish accessorizing this room!!

Here is where we are at right now.

{and yes that is frog tape at the back door waiting on proper weather to paint... hoping to complete that this weekend}

The Chairs:

you are probably now thinking why only buy two chairs?? well we are not planning on living in this house forever and in our next house the kitchen table will (fingers crossed, hopefully) have a built in banquet bench. So in that case we will only need two additional chairs. 

Here is an up close picture of the chairs.

yes complete with tags still. I have been dying for some oval cane back chairs but hubs and I both decided they will hold too much peanut butter residue. So these were our second choice.

What else?? Oh yeah...

For now, we have a basic area rug down to anchor the table. 

Accessories:

This room is so small it doesnt need much. 

One thing we will be needing is a highchair. Our old one didn't make the second child cut... Insert another great Essex find. This is what my dad called my highchair from the Jetson's. hahaha

AC can still fit in it and has actually preferred to be there as of late.

I have 3 more botanical prints to add to the collection but I am afraid basically hanging 3 more from the ceiling will only over power the small space. So they are being saved.

To add the lacking visual interest..

We moved my favorite print and ornate frame to the right of the mirrored piece. 

What is left??

Finish the window topper for this room!!!

Maybe make a cute table runner?? Or purchase some placemats? 

My mom actually gave us these.

Then I am planning on being done with this room... (in this house that is.)

The Pearl Girls

My friend Sibi is hosting the second annual Pearl Event "The Double Strand" in Nashville on March 10th. 

I cannot wait to spend the day hearing the testimony of these women and what the lord has laid on their hearts. 

Check out Sibi's blog at http://pearlsandgrace.blogspot.com

I am so excited about meeting several blogging friends in real life!!

If you want to join me send me an email. I believe there are around 20 seats remaining. 

1 month old

This past month has just flown by!!

I want to stop and freeze time. AC is saying the funniest stuff and C is changing a little more each day!

(I could not get him to look at me for all the tea in china, maybe next month)

one month stats.
(i know they are corny but I dont write anything down and this is going to serve as my "reference" for when I actually make time to filling in the baby book.)
head 50%
length 21 3/4= 25%
weight 8 pounds= 8%
needless to say we dropped down to 7 lb 6 oz at 2 weeks and have been trying to get back to birth weight (7/11) ever since. We are supplimenting 2 oz after every feeding to hopefully put some more meat on his bones.

Right after he was born we met with a local photographer to snap some newborn pics.
I am sooo pleased with how well they all turned out.
Here are just a few of the ones she captured.

This one melts my heart!

i think this is one of my favorite!

DIY: Silk Flower Arrangement

Some say it is a blessed talent to be crafty, I call it a blessed curse. 

I just have a really hard time paying for something I know good and well I can either make on my own or easily recreate. 

Here I where I insert pictures of very expensive, unbelievably realistic looking silk floral arrangements

 

image courtesy of first fruit collection blog

This is an arrangement from the store I actually purchased the stems from.

Most of these arrangements run between 89.00-499.00 (depending on size)

 image courtesy of google

This is a live arrangement but could easily be recreated in high end silk pieces.

Step 1:

Fill vase of choice with floral foam. 

The foam comes in rectangular pieces, I just used a kitchen knife to trim the pieces down and fill the vase to the rim. (the stakes of the flowers will "adhere" the layers together)

(sorry the images have become distorted)

Step 2:

Fill the vase with the "innermost" pieces. For the wheat pieces it took way, way more than anticipated. I only planned on using one buschel of the wheat but ended up needing both.

 

Step 3:

Fill the vase with the lower "filling" element, this layer is not as thick as the middle. I cut the stems of the ferns down and manipulated the pieces so they alternated directions. 

Up close picture.

Step 4:

Cut the stalks of the color-pop accenting piece.

 And fill in around the vase every few inches.

 

Step 5:

Enjoy your beautiful centerpiece that cost you less than half the price.

When the arrangement isn't sitting on the table it is resting on our sideboard!! :)

Cost Breakdown:

vase $16

wheat buschels 2 at $8

red stalks 6 pack for $6

fern buschel $6

Total: $44 plus tax. not half bad.

Any questions feel free to email me at jbrodden@gmail.com

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Valentine's Recap

This year we went with a really simple valentines. 

Nothing better than some good ole quality time.

 

We obviously put our pinterest mailboxes to good use.

(ac had a blast finding some goodies in her little box)

Since a 3 yr old was dining I decided to do an elegant kid friendly set up. (i am laughing at typing that really... basically a gold charger can make you, as an adult, feel as if you are indulging in a fine meal. haha)

This was our first holiday having lil bit eat on her new plate. she was Overly excited about this.

 

And what pink holiday is complete without some lilly and of course a Pinkaliscious book, namely Pinkadoodles. I am just as excited as lil bit is!!

 

My very sweet husband did something unconventional when the baby was born. Since my favorite florist was closing on Saturday right as we were headed into the hospital he decided to sign me up for the flower of the month club with Holidays flowers. Basically you get a small bouquet of flowers every month for 12 months. He got my first bouquet yesterday and I am in love!! 

And the best part is a fraction of the cost to having a monthly bouquet of fresh flowers every month!!

I can't wait!!!

Hope you all had a lovely evening with the ones you love!

Valentines decor

In my usual DIY fashion I added another polymesh wreath to my collection this year.


Found some hot pink almost fuchsia mesh at hobby lobby and made the same style wreath I made like when the baby came home from the hospital.

I had the love sign left over from last year. ( was a kohls clearance piece for 1.00) added just the right pop I was needing!!

Inside, we have our pinterest valentine mailboxes.

And on my scallop chalkboard I added some 99 cent chipboard letters I found at target.


Now time to prepare the menu and add some bows to my loves little happies!

Early onset Spring Fever

I don't know about you but it seems we have hardly had a winter at all. Since sweet boy has arrived we have had more weather in the mid 50's than we typically even have in march!!

With all these warm days I am getting quite antsy for spring!

Typically (in selfish fashion) I look for things for myself I have been wanting to "freshen up" with for spring. 

Well now that there will be two little ones in my life I can not help but drool over decadent things for them.
If you can't tell I am currently obsessed with anything personalized

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Source: etsy.com via Jenny Beth on Pinterest

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And just for fun.
I have GOT to find a space in my home to make a "mantel" How cute is this easter mantel?

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valentines breakfast

For Valentine's Day I grew up having a big breakfast. Daddy would always buy something special for the girls and Mommy would always buy something special for my brother. That night my parents usually went out.

I would LOVE to carry this tradition on in our house so in similar fashion we began our own version of this tradition.

Here is what we did:

The milk was given a serving of pink food coloring :)

 

We made Red Velvet Pancakes and sprinkled them with yummy powdered sugar

Last year was a very simple breakfast!

We then exchanged our valentines and lovies we had purchased for each other. 

I hope to take more pictures this year and share some new things we are planning on.

Back to life

Recently Casey and I were driving around neighborhood in our part of town. We found this house with weeds 5 ft tall. It was a grand house, very southern and very classic.

It had been abandoned and just so happened to be open when we went to peek in the windows.

Here is what we saw when we walked through.

Why am I showing you all of this? Well long story short we thought we wanted to purchase this house and rehab it. The home was already under contract when we called to inquire about it;(

Either way, I want to show you what I had in mind. So dream with me for a few minutes.

The den

how great would a dark fireplace be in this room?

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Downstairs Halfbath

The bathroom tile has come back in style.

And how cool would this look in this space?

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If you look closely in this picture you can see the ceiling in the kitchen is caving in. (there was bad roof damage in the back of the home)

we went far enough in this home to go back and measure to see what we could do a complete kitchen overhaul on this space. We had two main layouts in mind.

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This one is my absolute all time most favorite.

Just breaks my heart someone would leave this home like this.

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This layout would have required us to rearrange some plumbing but would have been just as lovely.

This is the living room. Complete with lovely green carpeting!

It would make an awesome playroom.

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otherside of the living room

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I mean seriously?? How fun?

The entry with hunter green marble flooring.

on the left side this is what I would like to see when walking in the front door.

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We think someone ripped the carpet off the stairs

And a small bench and picture to welcome you into the home

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Cute gate leading to the courtyard

wish I could find the pic to the courtyard but it seems to be missing. it has the same layout as the one in the pinterest picture. soo amazing

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And the back door area.

oh how precious would it be dressed up with outdoor cabana curtains?

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how cute would this be at christmas time?

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And here is the dining room.

Assuming there was more damage to this room. This is the foundation for the flooring.

(thank you pinterest for making it sooo easy to pull inspiration pics together)

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I would even plant some boxwoods and hosta along the front walkway.

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Thanks for dreaming with me.