Home Tour

Today I am going to share my second favorite room in my home. It was an absolute selling point for me. My favorite room is my closet and I did a post on it a while back. You can check it out here.

I absolutely love my dining room and it is one of the only rooms in this house that I consider to be completed for the most part. I still need to find some things to hang on the walls by pictures that look bare. We moved in this house early last Spring. Considering that and the fact that I have little kids, I don't have it fixed and decorated the way that I would like. I am kind of doing a room at a time. It's more cost effective and gives me plenty of time to be indecisive. 

 You can enter the dining room 2 ways. This is the entry from the kitchen.

This is entry 2 from the main entry of the house.

Antique buffet with lots of pics of the kids and antique mirror. 

Pictures of my boys. Carter is on the left and Caleb is on the right. I bought the little blue outfit that they are both wearing after I found out that Carter was a boy. Caleb had a pose done exactly like Carter's and I almost bought it but honestly you could barely tell a difference between them and I thought it would look odd  and when I get old and forgetful I wouldn't be able to tell them apart. Ha!

Antique desk with pic that my MIL had of Carter taken for me on Mother's Day 2011. This desk has a chair that the kids destroyed. Lol! I have considered painting this piece and the buffet but they match my table so well that I will probably just leave them the way that they are.

Aubree's wall. This is a wall that is def not completed. It really needs something on both sides of her picture. I have yet to find the perfect things though.

My table and chairs. Love them! I have nice plates, etc but I don't dare leave them out. Wonder why? Haha!

The ceiling in the room is a different color from the walls. The kids call it the tic-tac-toe ceiling. I love it! It def gives the room character. 

 

The dining room and the office are the only rooms in the house with hardwood floors. Love them and will probably end up taking the carpet out of the living room one day and replacing it with hardwood or stain the concrete. 

The next part of the house that I'll probably do is my kitchen. It is pretty much set up like I want it minus a few small things. My cousin bought my kitchen table last week and we bought a new one. We finally have enough chairs for all 5 of us as Caleb was hating his highchair and no more glass top table covered with finger prints!

Carter Bug is sick. He has been sick just about every week since he started preschool. I am so frustrated! I knew that he would have a few colds but my goodness! He stayed up all night following his first day of school with an awful stomach bug. He can't seem to catch a break. He has a cold I guess. You know us nurses don't take our kids to the doctor until we are absolutely sure they need antibiotics. Otherwise, it's a wasted trip full of exposure to other nasty viruses. Anyways, he stayed home yesterday and was so worried about his lunch that I'd already packed him so I told him we could have a picnic since it was almost 70 degrees. We did and he loved it. He kept hugging me and telling me thank you mommy. He is such a sweetheart. 

Enjoying his PB&J

Caleb could have really cared less about the picnic. He was too busy running around to eat much. I am not sure how much grass he consumed. He should be safe though...look at Les Miles...he seems to be doing just fine. 

Carter was cleaning some grass off Caleb's face. So sweet!

The picnic would not have been complete without Carter walking over towards the swing set only to pass it and walk right over to the fence and pee on it. Ugh! Boys! Hahahaha!  There were several conversations today between he and Aubree that were totally worthy of being shared but I have already forgotten them. If you ever hear people say, you'd better write it down or you'll forget, believe me it's true! I need to get better about that. 

I went for a nice run yesterday morning. It was around 65 degrees outside. I broke a serious sweat. I have yet to figure out why the second day of the week is always the most difficult for me. At one point I thought I can see the house and I am tired so I'm quitting but I didn't. Just being honest.

I want to tell y'all about my friend, Cari. Her blog name is The Crazy Kents. She is a nurse too and doesn't live very far from me. We are totally gonna hang out one of these days. Listen to this, like I said she's a nurse and her husbands name is Caleb and she has a son named Carter. This gets funnier, her full name is Cari Ann, like my SIL Carrie Ann and both of their husbands are nurses too. Anyways, I love her blog and she has a great personality. She sells Thirty-One and has a link on her blog if you want to do some shopping. I don't know about y'all but I love Thirty-One and I desperately need a new bag! Check her out!

Tasha, at A Sunshiny Day, is also a blog friend that lives near me. She is a fairly new blogger and is going to do a giveaway when she reaches 25 followers. She has 2 of the cutest little girls ever! Go visit her blog and tell her that I sent you!

We were supposed to be going out with the fam for dinner tonight to celebrate Brian's birthday but since Carter is under the weather we will just stay home and keep our germs confined to our house. It sure would be nice if errrrrrrrbody did the same! 

Happy Birthday B-rian! I lurve you!

So since it's my hubby's birthday weekend and I have to work, such a shock, I am requesting that y'all keep your "It's finally Friday" "Yay for the weekend" shiz to a minimum! Ha! J/k...I did sign up for it after all!

Happy Thursday, y'all! I'm back today to share one of my favorite places in my house. My kitchen! Yep...that's right! I enjoy cooking most of the time so when we were house hunting it was important to me that we bought a house that had a nice kitchen. I think I spend the majority of my day in there. I am either cooking breakfast, coloring with Carter at the table, fixing snacks and then lunch, helping Aubree with homework, cooking dinner...yeah, you get the point.

I have been sharing my home with you all because I am proud of our new house. We did work hard to get it and my PawPaw made sure I was taken care of when he passed away. I don't take a bit of it for granted. Don't be afraid to pin this stuff and make me famous on Pinterest! Haha!

 The most important thing is the cooktop of course! LOVE IT! It is gas and has 5 burners. That middle burner can put out a big and scary flame. Ha! Boils water in no time! This is the first home I've ever had with stainless steel appliances and I love them. Very easy to clean.

 

Next, is the pot filler. Yes, I asked what the heck is that when we looked at this house. Then I walked away mumbling something about how I'll never use that. Wrong! I use it all the time. How did I ever live with having to actually walk to the sink for water? Lordy!

 

A double oven was a MUST HAVE for me. We usually have family over here for holidays and the double oven comes in very handy. Our cabinets and drawers are all custom made. The countertops are granite and gorgeous. This is my first home with granite. A couple days after we moved in I had to text a friend and ask her how to clean granite. I was about to bleach them. Yikes!

I love how the middle drawers and cabinets are a different color from the others. I am sure 30 years from now we will be like, wow, that is ugly, time to remodel but for now it's a trend around here that we like. All of the drawers below the cooktop are real and I look forward to being able to use them just as soon as Caleb is out of his phase where he removes everything he possibly can. Yes! I know they make things to childproof them but I am not screwing holes in them.

This is a close up showing the detail in the cabinetry. It's really pretty!

 

This is the other side of the kitchen. Lots of drawers and cabinets. I love how it is open to the living room. Oh look! There's my green scentsy warmer that I bought from Chelsea Houska!

 

More cabinet space. I use every single one and they are pretty much full. That's the door to the walk-in pantry on the left and the dining room in the background. I did a post on my dining room last month. You can see it here.

I loved the backsplash! It blends nicely with the color of the granite.

We have what we call our "built in nightlights" under all of the cabinets. I use them every night. Let me tell you though, the bulbs blow pretty frequently and they are $11 for just one tiny bulb. Crazy!

 

A big sink was also something I really wanted.

 

The faucet detaches. It took me about 3 days of living here to figure that one out. I was like, OMG, it is impossible to clean dishes like this. Then Aubree just walks in and pulls the thing out. Duhhhhhhhhhh.....

We do have a breakfast area and this is our new table. My walls are bare and I wish I could keep my table set but let's be real...I've got 3 kids. I do plan to hang pics soon and curtains but not until I find the perfect things!

This is where Carter sits. It's a bench seat. You can see the baby's chair with his booster in the background. It won't push up to the table with the booster so it goes in the corner. This table seats 6 people.

This is our view from the kitchen window. I actually took this pic from inside the house. We have a nice little pond out back.

There's also a bar that wraps around into the living room so it can seat 4 once I find the perfect barstools.

 

 

So, that's my kitchen! It may be new but it is still a work in progress as far as hanging pictures, barstools, and curtains. Now you will know what the kitchen that I am always posting pics of food from on IG looks like! =)


Yesterday I made something I found on Pinterest months ago. I had all the stuff here so why not? I put orange peel, sliced apples, and cinnamon in a pan and covered with water. I brought it to a boil and let it simmer all afternoon adding water as needed. It smelled amazing! There is no specific amount on any of the ingriedients but I wouldn't get crazy with the cinnamon...that may make it too strong.

 

Smelled so good!

 

Next, I got so tired of wearing t-shirts and blue jeans to the grocery store all the time. Yeah, I know it's kinda sad that it's one of the only places I go but it's ok with me. I have all these clothes just hanging in my closet that only get used on date nights that rarely happen. This has been my favorite casual outfit this season. Just a pair of black jeggings from LOLA at Mall of America (not sure they have any other stores), a Chambray shirt that I got for $5 from Old Navy last year, and my favorite riding boots by Steve Madden. Very casual but much cuter than t-shirts all the time and it makes me feel good too!

Simple but cute!

 

I was excited to buy these mint jeans from Tilly's online. My SIL, Laura, is going to be doing a post on how to wear these soon. I have a few things in mind but she and my other SIL, Carrie, are the stylish ones so I kinda count on them at times to know how far behind my style is! Lol!

Mint Jeans! Stay tuned to see how I wear them!

 

I also got my order from Kiki La'Rue today! UPS has been working hard for me! Ha! I bought 2 shirts, a dress, and a necklace with matching earrings. I did not get a chance to wash my hair today (big shock since I stay home with little kids) so I'll try all of them on tommorow with pics!

Love Kiki La'Rue!

 

So, I set some goals for 2013 and one is to get my house more organized and possibly start finishing our upstairs but Brian insists on finisihing the old chevy in the garage.  When we bought this house, a major selling point for me was the closet. All I can say about the closet is the two men that designed this house somehow got into the head of every woman and made a closet to put a smile on her face. Seriously. So, as if this dream closet isn't big enough, they put another one in the master bath that is a walk-in. This closet is as interior as it can get. No walls touch the outside of the house, no windows so it makes a great tornado shelter but, I am a woman who has been quite stir crazy in this house lately. What does a woman do with a closet that is not being used? She turns it into a dressing room...duh!

My dressing room! Ha! Now I will post lots of OOTD (outfit of the day) pics! Don't hate on the Hannah Montana trashcan! And btw...I painted that pic in the background. Any Memphis friends interested in going to a paint party? They are so much fun!

When Tina Chris designed my blog, I had him add a tab for a "Home Tour". Now don't get all excited and go clicking on it because there is nothing there! Laura mentioned a home tour for her blog last week and I got to thinking that it will probably be at least 5 years before I am able to do a  home tour. Caleb will be in kindergarten then so I will be able to get my house set out the way I want to and have time to do it. Until then, I will make posts to show parts of the house here and there if it goes along with what I am talking about. Like this post, I mention the closet of my dreams so I will share it with you. Please excuse the clutter...it takes us a good year or so to get moved in completely!

 

My closet has 2 entry's. This is the first. It is connected to the laundry room. Genius!

Custom shelving that you would just have to see to believe. Btw...my hubby has more clothing than me. Something is wrong with this!

This is a bookcase that we use for DVDs, CDs, purses, bills, etc. This is shot facing the laundry room.

There is a turn towards the right in the closet and this is my side. Notice he has shoes on my side! Seriously...Haha!

This is the exit or entry #2. It leads to my master bath which is connected to my bedroom. Tell me these guys weren't thinking like a woman?!?! Smarties!

 

Tonight I won a prize for the like the first time ever! I won a free airbrush tan from my friend, Jamie at Southernglow! I am so excited! I have known Jamie for many years! We went to a football game at Ole Miss together years ago. We had so much fun checking out the stores on the square in Oxford after the game. She has a beautiful family. I am so excited! Momma is pale but will be glowing soon!

Yay!!

 

That's all for tonight! It is pouring down rain and I am ready for my head to hit the pillow. Hope everyone has a great day tomorrow! I leave you with this precious face!

What's not to love??