Bread Box

I eyed this bread box when I first saw it on the shelves of Target and once my kitchen was painted I was finally positive that I needed it.

I had been using a random basket but this is much more fun!  Not much in it right now but plenty of space.

It looks super cute with my Jonathan Adler containers that are just hanging out.

I imagine it will look super cute some day down the line when I have my new countertops and tile back splash.  Someday...someday.

One Track Mind

I grabbed new nail polish at the grocery store last weekend.  I just grabbed a new fun color that was under $4 a bottle.  Last night I got around to painting my nails and that's when I noticed...

...I had painted my nails the same color as my kitchen.  I guess when I have a color on my mind it's all I can think about because this was totally unplanned.  I got to thinking about it and the past several weeks my nails had been varying shades of gray, just like the other rooms in my house.

I had been toying with painting my laundry room green.  Guess I better go ahead and do that soon so my nails are ready for St. Patrick's day.

Oscars Night

Last night I hosted my first Oscars watching party with all my Dallas girls and had a great evening!  I stocked up on a few items from the party store to set the mood: a Hollywood star for my front door and streamers for the entry hall.

I had plenty of food to fuel us through the 6 hour production (between red carpet coverage and the awards themselves).  I loved the little popcorn bags I found at Party City! 

And I love that I doubled my money in the ballot pool by having the least number of correct Oscar predictions.  I swear I didn't try to lose.  I'm just that bad.  But most of all I loved our Girls' Night In with friends! 

I can't wait to do it again next year!  Hopefully I'll actually see a few of the movies next year and be able to better prepare my selections.
P.S. A special shout-out to Miss Nikki, the original Oscar Watching Party Hostess, who is now living in Florida.  She gave birth to a beautiful little boy this morning!  Welcome Weston!  ...although maybe she should have named him Oscar.  Just saying.

Classy Trash

Now that I'm all grown up and in a big girl house, I figured it was time to upgrade my trash can.

This is what I had been using.  It was cheap and got the job done.  I used to keep my trash under the sink at my condo so I didn't really care what it looked like. Since I couldn't do that at the house (and since I don't have a pantry to hide it in) I had to find something that had a lid.  I snagged this one at Target the week I moved in. 

Last week while shopping for paint at Home Depot I saw a sale display of fancy cans right by the checkout.  Yes, I totally fell for the impulse buy bait.  But it was $29.99...and it came with a mini-friend!

It's by SimpleHuman and I think it looks pretty cute in my work-in-progress kitchen.

I haven't figured out to do with the mini can.  It's perfectly sized for Pablo so if I can just teach him to use the foot pedal, he may actually be able to start cleaning up after himself!

Adler Addict

I am obsessed with Jonathan Adler.  His colors are so bright and vibrant that I pretty much love everything he does.

from JonathanAdler.com



Unfortunately most of his stuff is a bit out of my price range right now.  I do own his books and they were the inspiration for my living room rug.

Thanks to a Neiman Marcus gift card, coupled with an amazing sale, I was able to buy myself one single, tiny Jonathan Adler pillow for my living room.  I love it and only wish I could but more.

Aquarius Zodiac Pillow



If Jonathan Adler ever did a Target collection, I think I'd come unglued!  I would definitely be camping out the night before to score as much as possible.  Do you understand the depth of my obsession?  Good.  Because now you will understand my excitement for the Cottonelle "Respect the Roll" campaign featuring Adler designed toilet paper covers.  I forked over $16 and ordered 4.  Oh yes, I did. 

I have not figured out what I'm going to do with my covers yet but I love them.  Actually I'm using one for covering my backup roll in the Master bathroom, but I envision coming up with creative ways to use the others.

I am not even deterred by the Cottonelle logo on the top of the lids.  I envision the lids being moved to the bottom once put flowers or fruit or screwdrivers (or whatever) in these awesome containers.

So in closing, I thank Jonathan Adler for pairing up with Cottonelle to make his fun designs a little more accessible to me!  It's no Dora Maar Vase, but it's a start.

And seriously, please consider pairing up with Target.  It would have me saying, "Missoni who?"

Dad Saves the World

Maybe I should say Dad Saves DFW.  My point is, ever since my dad bought me my rain gauge it has been raining non stop.  Or so it feels. 

My record so far is 5 inches from one storm.  Just this last Saturday I got an inch and a half.  And I spout this information to pretty much anyone who will listen.  I even had a awkward elevator ride where I jumped into a conversation with total strangers so I could tell them about my rain totals from the previous night.  They smiled and nodded.  I think I'll stick to engaging people I actually know when it comes to rain fall chats.

According to the Star Telegram this weekend, Saturday's rain put us 4 inches above normal whereas last year at this time we were 2 inches below norm. 

So I guess what I'm saying is that if things keep going at this rate, we're all going to have gorgeous lawns this summer and maybe they'll let us water more than just between 3am and 4am on alternating Tuesdays.  Heck, they can keep the water restrictions in place for all I care, because we're not going to need sprinklers anyway.  And you can all thank my dad! 

For now all I ask is for a short reprieve so that I can mow the 8-12" weeds in my back yard.  Seriously.  It's getting out of control.  Thanks alot, Dad.

The Kitchen Paint it Done!

I knocked out my kitchen paint this weekend.  First I had to freshen up all my trim work and give it a new coat of white paint.

After I finished that chore I allowed myself to go pick up my wall color at Home Depot.  I finished all the cutting in on Saturday and then painted the main walls on Sunday.  I think it was really helpful to start with all the more annoying parts of painting first, and then finishing with the easy part.

Painting above the cabinets was a little bit of a beating and I discovered it's pretty dirty up there.  Note to self: Don't look up there again.  I still have a very tan ceiling that I'm probably going to have to paint.  I know I swore I'd never paint my own ceiling again but somehow the kitchen seems a little more managable.  Being able to walk on the countertops is a big help.

All in all I love the way the color turned out.  Thanks again, Mom!  Good call.  The kitchen now has a little bit of a retro vibe to it and my mod table makes a little more sense in the room.  It is also much brighter now.


Before





After

This was a pretty easy $25 facelift to tackle in a weekend.  Now I shall continue to save money for stainless appliances and new countertops and back splash.  This tile stuff I have now isn't going to cut it in my cute kitchen.



Laundry Line

My laundry room is probably closer to a large closet than an actual room.  But compared to my past, it feels like a room.  At my condo I had a stackable that filled up an entire laundry closet.

Now I have a room/closet that I can actually walk into.  It has cabinets and wall space and a real door.

I've been trying to make use of all the space in my house in the most practical manner and this laundry room is no exception.  Occasionally I have clothes that don't go in the dryer.  When this happens I dry them on a fold out rack.  This rack doesn't fit in my wee laundry room so it usually ends up in the dining room.  And because of "out of sight out of mind", it usually remains there for a week or so. 

While I have no floor space for a drying rack, I decided I did have plenty of wall space and overhead space.  A light bulb went off and $10 at Home Depot later I had this:

A new clothing rod above the washer for drying clothes!  It makes it so easy to hang something up while I'm in the middle of moving loads to the dryer. If I'm too lazy to put the stuff away once it's dry, at least it is hidden behind the laundry room door and not in the middle of my dining room. 

I made sure to measure everything before installing the rod so that I would still have easy access to the top of the washer and to the cabinet shelves.

I'm pretty excited with my new install.  Maybe it will help get me a little more excited about actually doing laundry. 

Closet Organization

I have mentioned before how thankful I am for all the closets in my house.  After years in a condo with only 2, it's like a whole new world for me.  I'm still slowly figuring out how best to use them all.  One of my closets is next to my laudry room, right at the entrance to the living area.

Closet seen here, behind the green table

This closet is oddly deep, almost square on the inside.  I've got games and such crammed in it, some random shirts hanging in there and then my Dyson.  Basically just stuff that I haven't found a better place to store.

I decided more shelves might actually make this closet more useful.  Instead of throwing things on the ground, or placing them on shelves so high that I can't reach, I can add more shelves down the back wall.  Brilliant, right?

$40 in supplies at Home Depot and I was ready to go.  I screwed the long rails into the back of the closet and then added my adjustable shelves.

Before I get my new shelves too filled up, I will probably add 2 more shelves to the track.  Not bad for about 30 minutes of work!  And don't worry, even with the shelves there is still penty of room for Dyson storage.

Valentine's Day Flowers

You've got to give it to family.  No matter how many times you fail and fail and fail, they never stop believing that some day you'll succeed.  This is how I rationalize my family's decision to buy me flowering plants for Valentine's even though I seem to have killed almost every green item I've come in contact with since moving into the new house. 

I really hope their faith leads me to success because these cyclamen and primroses are beautiful!  I will be so sad if I kill them. 

I put them under the tree, in the mulch, where they will enjoy mostly shady with peeks of sun conditions. 

My ability to kill plants used to make me worried about my ability to ever be responsible for children.  I'm past that now.  You can bribe children.  Attempt to reason with them.  Lay down the law with them.  None of these will work for plants.  I think my future kids will be fine.  Pablo will vouch for me.  Let's just hope my luck with plants turns around.

Happy Valentine's Day!